The Path of the Chosen
by pyrorynox
Summary: Now that we've found out that we must find the other five digimon of legend, Kumamon and I are about to embark on our journey to save the digital world. It's self-insert, but you should give it a chance anyway.
1. Dreaming

**Well this is my first fanfiction so I hope it goes well. In light of that I hope that you all enjoy and give me plenty of reviews. But no flames, I will take some constructive critism though.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon and I think you need psychiatic help if you thought i did.**

Thunder and lightning shook the sky as a horrific battle took place. The sky itself seemed to be streaked with crimson, the color of blood. Creatures of various shapes and sizes ran all around, trying to find a place to hide or to find a safe place to witness the final battle between the six children and the tyrant who was the dictator of a whole world. The dictator didn't even look human. He wore silver armor that went over his leaf green skin. He had a face sort of like a snake. Despite his evil appearance he had a somewhat kind voice.

"You children have indeed done well to push me this far, but I am afraid that I have to end this little skirmish of ours." And with that he opened his palm and an enormous orb of golden light appeared high above him.

Even those creatures that had remained to watch the battle fled at the sight of the orb. Yet the children just stood fast, unafraid. They didn't look that old at all, fourteen years of age at the most. The youngest one looked about ten, and yet they all had the eyes of someone who had seen years ahead of their time. The apparent leader, a brown haired kid with goggles on his head, stepped forward and as he did so a creature appeared behind each of the children.

"Quetzalmon, even though you're immortal we'll find a way to beat you. Unlike you, we have two worlds to protect. And as long as you're around all of our friends, our families are threatened by you! I WON'T QUIT FIGHTING FOR THOSE I CARE ABOUT!!!" The goggled boy cried to the heavens. He and the other five children raised their hands to the sky and as they did so the six creatures behind them began to glow and grow in size.

Quetzalmon chuckled to himself as he held the glowing orb in the air. "Amusing to the end, right, Davis?" he said silently to himself. As the six newly formed creatures flew towards him he threw the orb towards them. Just before the creatures and the orb collided a horrible sound could be heard from all around.

I woke up in bed and looked at the clock on the nightstand. 2:38. I turned off the alarm and reset it before laying back down and putting my palm on my forehead.

"I'm starting to have those dreams again. But they just seem to be getting more real every time I have them." I closed my eyes and said to myself, "Stanley, you need to get some sleep; otherwise you'll start sleeping in class and your grades will slip." And with that I succumbed to sleep, unaware that a foreign pair of brown eyes was watching me sleep from the foot of my bed.

...........................................................

I walked down the road to school several hours later, the dream from the previous night still fresh and vivid in my mind. "I'm a senior in high school and I'm still dreaming of monsters. I've got to be the only eighteen-year old with the imagination of a twelve-year old." I walked up to our school's band hall, my usual hangout spot before school started. "I wonder what my friends will say to me if I tell them about the dreams." I sat down against the wall and adjusted my glasses. "Well Ashton didn't laugh when I told her, maybe nobody else will either." I closed my eyes for a split second before I heard a male voice shout out my name.

"YO, STANLEY!!!" it called. I recognized the voice right away as I turned my head and looked towards the road at my best friend, Malcolm Smith.

Malcolm was a freshman, a bit on the heavy side, but maybe one of the strongest people I knew. We both were African-Americans with somewhat non-traditional personalities. We both liked rock music and spent our time watching anime. Some people would say that we could pass for brothers.

He stood beside me and leaned against the wall. "What's up man? You look a little tired." I looked up at him and gave a tired smile.

"Well I haven't been getting much sleep lately. I've been having strange dreams for the last few weeks." I stood up and dusted my pants off, then looked around to see if anyone was trying to listen in on our conversation. When I concluded that we wouldn't be overheard I said, "Dreams about monsters."

"Monsters, Stanley?" he looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, monsters." I sighed and turned away. "I knew you probably wouldn't think anything of it, Malcolm." It made sense that he would probably think I was being childish. Not many guys my age drempt about anything other than girls and cars. But I was thinking about it so hard I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard him suddenly speak.

"Well, Stanley, it's not that hard to believe. Why don't you just tell me about the dreams and we'll try to figure something out." I looked at him, wondering if he were really serious. He gave me an exasperated sigh, "Anytime now, Stanley."

"Well it's been the same exact dream most nights. There's a storm going on, the sky is blood red. I'm pretty sure that the place isn't anywhere on earth."

Malcolm looked at me, intent on hearing more, "Anything else? I know that's not it, right Stanley?" I looked towards the sky; I could almost see its color change crimson, like in the dream.

"Well, there were all sorts of different creatures running around, some big, some small. Some of them even looked human in shape. But the ones that seemed to be the main focus of the dream were six children." I looked forward, towards Grenada High School. "It looked like they were fighting against some strong looking monster. I think one of the kids called him 'Quetzalmon'. The monster was holding an orb of light that was bigger than the school. One of the children stepped forward and said something about 'protecting two worlds'. Six more monsters appeared behind the kids and Quetzalmon threw the orb at them. That's when the dream ends and my alarm goes off at random times during the night."

Malcolm looked at me with a weird expression on his face, almost like he was wondering about asking something.

"Does your alarm always go off at the same time every night?" he asked. I started to say yes, but then I thought about it.

_'Now that he mentions it, I don't think my alarm has ever gone off at the same time for more that one night. It just goes off at random times.'_ I looked at him. "No, it doesn't. No matter what time it is at night, the alarm always goes off right when this Quetzalmon guy throws the orb." I opened my mouth to say something else, but before the words could be uttered from my mouth the bell for first period rang across the grounds. I silently cursed the timing of the bell as I picked up my books and we walked towards the school. Malcolm could sense my bad mood though.

"Don't worry, bro. We can talk more about this tomorrow," he said as we took off down opposite ends of the hallway.

I gave him one last wave as I rounded the corner and headed to my first period class.

....................................................................................

"So you told Malcolm about the dreams you've been having?"

"Yes, Ashton, I told him. And he asked me something I hadn't even thought about before," I said as I sat down in my seat before sixth period started.

"And that would be?" Ashton asked as she twirled her finger in her long, brown hair.

She was seventeen years-old, Caucasian, blue eyes. She had the most beautiful brown hair I had ever seen and had cheeks that you couldn't help but want to squeeze. She was my other best friend, even though I had only known her for about a year and a half. Whereas Malcolm was a bit on the heavy side, she was perfect. She wasn't overweight, but had enough meat on her bones to be appealing to the eyes.

"Well he asked me if my alarm had been going off at the same time every night. Ashton, I hadn't thought about this before, but the alarm always wakes me up before I can get any further in the dream."

"You mean like it doesn't want you to go any further in the dream?" she asked.

I smirked at her._ 'She always could read me like a book. She doesn't know how smart she is.'_ "Yeah, I always set my alarm for seven, but it always wakes me up before I can get any further in the dream no matter what time it is. But why wouldn't my alarm want me to see the rest of the dream? And another thing, how is it even doing that in the first place?" I asked myself out loud.

She turned in her desk and looked at me. "No clue. Maybe you should just unplug your alarm before you go to sleep tonight. That way there's no way it can wake you up."

I thought about it really hard. "It might work, but if I unplug my alarm then how am I gonna get up in the morning? I might oversleep."

"Don't worry about it," Ashton said as she laid her head on her desk, "I'll wake you up in the morning. I'll just call you and wake you up."

I beamed at her. "What would I do without you, Ashton?"

"You would go crazy. You can repay me by taking notes for me while I take a nap and wake me up before the bell rings for seventh period," she ordered as she closed her eyes. As soon as I heard her light snoring I shook her awake. "What is it, Stanley?"

"Well you told me to wake you up before the bell rang," I said with my version of a sly grin. I grunted when I felt her punch me in the arm.

"Smartass."

I smiled to myself and rubbed my arm as she went back to sleep.

............................................................................

"Amusing to the end I see. Right, Davis?" Quetzalmon said again as he threw the orb. Then something different happened. The scene suddenly changed to a forest like area. The sky was blue and the weather was calm. It looked like quite a few years had passed since the terrible battle. But something seemed off, namely the sounds of battle that could be heard in the distance.

"Come on, Kumamon. Why don't you call your human friend to come help you out?" said a dinosaur looking monster to a bear looking monster. The dinosaur monster was pure white and looked out of place in the green forest. The bear, on the other hand, looked like he belonged. He was bloody and looked beat up. On his forehead was a fresh scar in the shape of a crescent moon. It was bleeding quite badly. "If you don't call him out I'll just have to beat you up some more," the white dinosaur said as he began his assault on 'Kumamon'.

Kumamon tried to block the blows as best as he could. "Why are you attacking me, SnowAgumon? I thought our villages got along!?" He started to cry.

SnowAgumon looked at the little bear in mock pity. "Our villages do get along, but nobody from either village likes you. All you do is talk about this 'Stanley' person and talk about how the two of you are going to save the digital world. Save it from what!? Your mother and her friends defeated Quetzalmon centuries ago, by themselves! There's no way that something as weak sounding as a _human_ could have helped them seal him up!"

Kumamon cried harder. "You're wrong! Humans are real! My mother told me so! And she told me that someday I would get to follow in her footsteps. I already know his name! Stanley WILL come and we WILL save the digital world from whatever tries to take it over! So you should just SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" he roared.

His outburst shocked SnowAgumon so badly he actually backed away for a second, but only for a second. "You foolish little digimon!" he started. "Don't you get that your mother has been lying to you!? She probably just makes fun of you like the rest of your crummy village. Well either way it goes, you annoy me so I'm gonna do everybody a favor and delete this little virus." He started to inch closer to Kumamon, but before anything else happened I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing.

I sat up in bed and put my face in my hands. "That was definitely different than my other dreams."


	2. Weakness

**Well I know it's only been a couple of days but I at least expected a _couple _of reviews. Well anyway I know the first chapter didn't have much about Digimon in it except for the dreams, but you'll soon see them in here. And in case youre wondering, yes, the kids in the first dream were Davis's team from season 2. Another thing, some of you may be confused about "Kumamon." He's not the Kumamon from season four, he's the Kumamon from Digimon World 3 otherwise known as "Bearmon." I don't like it when Digimon come to America and the name gets changed. Whoops, got off track.**

"normal print" somebody is talking

'normal print' quoting while someone is talking

_italisized print_ emphasis on a word

_'italisized print'_ a person's thoughts

"ALL CAPS" somebody is obviously pissed or maybe calling out to somebody

............................ time skip no jutsu

**Disclaimer: You all know I don't own Digimon, but the cool thing is that you don't either. Mwahaha!!!**

**Chapter 2:Weakness**

I took my face out of my hands and picked up my ringing phone, not remembering that Ashton was going to wake me up.

"Hello," I said sleepily. I waited for whoever called me to say something, but whoever it was hung up the phone. I glared at the phone wondering who would possible be calling me. Then I finally remembered what Ashton had said the day prior. I looked at my clock to check the time only to find it unplugged. "That's right. I unplugged it." I got out of bed and plugged the clock back up. 1:56. I stared at the time in disbelief. "What in the world? Why would she call me at such an hour?" I dialed her number in my phone and put it to my ear. It rang six times before she finally answered.

"You better have a damn good reason for waking me up at two in the morning, Stanley," she said angrily as she yawned.

"_Me_ waking _you_ up? Ashton, you just called me like five minutes ago and woke me up. You said seven. I finally got further in the dream and then you wake me up at two in the morning. I'm really mad at you."

"Wait, you got further in the dream? Tell me what happened. Did Quetzalmon kill those kids or what?"

"Don't change the subject, Ash. Why did you wake me up? I'm a little pissed off," I started to raise my voice.

"Stanley, I didn't even call you!"

"Yes, you did."

"I didn't! Did you even check to see whose number it was?"

"Of course I….." I cut myself off. She had a very good point. I hadn't checked my call log. "I didn't check. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Stanley. I'm gonna let you go now so you can check your call log." She yawned again.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about the dream tomorrow. G'night."

"G'night, Stanley," and with that she hung up the phone.

As soon as she did I checked my call log. "She really didn't call me. But if she didn't then who did?" I scrolled down to the number below Ashton's. "What kind of number is this?" the number read 55-88-6-2-6-666-66. Confused and curious I called the number. But as soon as I put the phone to my ear a horrible screeching sound rang through my room. Holding my head in pain I struggled to close my phone before my ears started to bleed. I managed to close it just before my ears hit the breaking point. Exhausted I fell back and tried to catch my breath. "This is definitely something to tell Malcolm and Ashton."

**.............................................**

"So let me get this straight, Stanley. It was this weird number that called you at two in the morning and got me yelled at?"

"Yes. I don't think I've ever seen a number like that either. I tried to call it after I got off the phone with you and...... let's just say that I regretted it right away," I said to Ashton. We were sitting in sixth period again. I was telling her what had happened after we got off the phone.

"Forget that for a sec. You told me last night that you got further in the dream. Tell me what happened!" she seemed very excited.

"Wow, well you seem very excited, Ash. Ouch! What was that for?" I said as I rubbed my arm.

"Shut up and tell me about the dream before I punch you again."

"But how can I shut up and talk about it at the same time?" She began to raise her fist. "Okay! Okay. Well first of all I didn't get to see the rest of the fight."

Ashton looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. "What?"

"I know. The dream went to where it always does, but then it..... skipped."

"Skipped? Skipped how?"

"Well I think it fast forwarded a few centuries into the future." I stopped because I could tell Ashton had a question.

"A few centuries? How do you know that?"

"Well the dream skipped to a forest and two monsters were fighting, a bear and a white dinosaur." I looked at Ashton. She looked very skeptical. "Stop making that face." She started to pout. "Stop that! I hate it when you do that. Well the bear was really beat up and the dinosaur was bullying him."

"Why was he bullying him, Stanley?"

"Well," this was the part that confused me the most, "I think it was because of me." I looked to Ashton with a sad look on my face. "The bear mentioned me by name. He said the two of us were gonna save his world. That's when the dinosaur mentioned that the bear's mother beat Quetzalmon centuries ago. And he said that the bear was a fool because there was no way something as weak sounding as a human could've helped beat him. Then the bear shouted at him. I thought that maybe that dinosaur would've backed off the little guy then, but it looked like he was about to finish him off instead. And that's when my phone started ringing and I woke up."

"That's weird that your phone just went off at a random time. It's just like what your alarm clock was doing. And the thing about the bear's mom, did you see a bear looking monster fighting Quetzalmon in the first part of the dream?"

I tilted my head back and thought about it. "No, I couldn't really see the six monsters behind the kids that well, but I'm sure there wasn't a bear."

Ashton crossed her arms. "Okay then. Well what about that number?" she asked.

I cringed at the memory of what happened the night before. "What about it?"

"Let me call it on my phone. I want to talk to the guy that woke you up."

I snapped my head in her direction so suddenly I thought I gave myself whiplash. "No! When I called that number some weird sound came through. It filled my whole room and I thought my head was going to explode. There's no way I'm letting you call it."

"Well maybe something was wrong with your phone and it wasn't getting through. Maybe someone will answer this time if we use mine." She just refused to let up. But she did have a point.

I repeated the number as she took out her phone and dialed it. "You win. But if that sound comes through again then I'm going to be in a really bad mood. Got that?" she nodded and pressed the call button and immediately the sound from the night before rang through the classroom.

Our hands flew to our ears as the screeching sound got louder. Since I had been expecting it I braced myself for the pain that was now being inflicted on my brain. Ashton, on the other hand, looked like she was going to pass out at any moment. She flipped the phone closed and the screeching instantly ended.

"I told you that would happen, Ashton!"

"Okay! You were right. That was horrible. Did anybody else hear that?" We both looked around. Nobody else in the room looked like they had even heard a hint of disturbance. "You've got to be kidding me. Are we the only ones who heard that?"

I shook my head and tried to blink the sound out. "Apparently so. Maybe I should just text the number and see what happens then." I opened the phone back up and prepared to write the message, but then I got an idea. "Ashton, I think that the number is a code."

"I'm not following you. Explain it."

"Well maybe it's a message. If I text the numbers then maybe they'll spell something out. Repeating numbers could be telling me how many times to push that particular number to get the letter I need." I smiled at my genius.

"Well try it."

"Okay." I pushed the 5 button twice, "K," the 8 button twice, "u," the 6 button once, "m," the 2 button once, "a," the 6 button once, "m," the 6 button three more times, "o," then the 6 button twice more, "n". I looked at the word with wide eyes, my thoughts going to the bear from my dream.

"Kumamon?" Ashton stared from the word on the screen to my face. "Does that word mean anything to you, Stanley?"

I nodded. "That's the name of the bear digimon from my dream."

Ashton looked at me. "Digimon? And that bear had a name?"

"Yes. The SnowAgumon monster called Kumamon a 'foolish little digimon'. I think that's what the monsters are called, but each individual one has a specific name."

"Well that kinda makes sense, Stanley. I think _kuma_ means _bear_ in Japanese."

"I guess. Wait, you speak Japanese?" I looked at her and pictured her in a kimono. _'She wouldn't look half bad. Wait, where did that come from?'_ I thought to myself.

"Well just a little. It's nothing to be impressed over." She turned around with a slight blush on her face. _'I wonder why he's looking at me like that'_ "Anyway the bell's about to ring, so can you meet me after school? You said you had to talk to Malcolm, right?"

I looked back to my phone and nodded. "Yeah, I do."'How weird is this going to get?"

**..................................................................**

I stood next to the front door of the school, waiting for the final bell to ring so I could talk to Ashton and Malcolm. "I wish the bell would hurry up and ring already." As I waited I thought about the new part of the dream. _'That dream felt so real and I feel like I've met Kumamon before. And then there's my phone.'_ I looked at my watch as the bell rang. _'Any second now.'_

At the very second the front doors opened and Ashton and Malcolm were the first people to step out of them.

"Hey, Stanley. Ashton here told me you got further in you dream."

I glared at Ashton as she gave me the 'what did I do' look. "Well I wish she could let me tell people my own secrets."

"Well how was I supposed to know that you didn't want me to tell him? You already told him about the dreams. All I did was tell him you got further in them."

I sighed and looked away, "Well I guess we should go somewhere and talk about the dreams some more." I started to walk towards the band hall as the other two followed, but we weren't even halfway there when a familiar voice screamed to my right. I turned in the direction of the voice. "Guys, was that Shelby?"

The two of them looked nervously at each other. I could tell that the two of them were trying to keep something from me. I started to walk in that direction but was halted when I felt a strong hand on my shoulder.

"Stanley, we didn't want to tell you this," started Malcolm, "but right before we left the building we saw Chase harassing Shelby."

"What!? That's something I think I should know, Malcolm! And, Ashton, you know how I feel about that guy!"

Chase Lewis was our school's main bully. Even though he was only a junior he was almost 20 years old. He was about 6 and a half feet tall and had a body like most wrestlers, but used his strength and appearance to mostly push other people around and harass most of the female student body. Out of all of the people he loved to torment I seemed to be his favorite. Anytime I wasn't around Ashton or Malcolm the jerk made it his mission to make me miserable. From calling me names to beating me up on occasion, he took his job seriously. I hated him.

Shelby, on the other hand, was a freshman and a somewhat close friend that I had just met recently. She had long, dirty blonde hair, and eyes almost the same shade of brown as mine. She was in band like the rest of us, but seemed extremely friendly towards me. Despite the fact that she was a freshman she was extremely beautiful for someone her age. Most guys really wanted a shot at dating her. Unfortunately Chase was one of those guys.

"Stanley, you know you don't stand a chance against that guy. You're terrified of him. Let's just go."

"Yeah, man. Ashton's right. We should go."

I looked at the two of them like I had never seen them before. "If you guys wanna go then go ahead. But despite the face that I'm afraid of Chase, Shelby is my friend and I'm not gonna leave her at his mercy. I just can't do that." And with that I stalked off towards the west entrance of the school. My two best friends turned to each other as if questioning their own words.

"Malcolm, we're not gonna let him go through with this, are we?"

"Of course not! He may be an idiot, but he's OUR idiot. YO, STANLEY!!! WAIT!!!"

I turned around to see the two of them running towards me. "It's nice to see that the two of you changed your minds. Let's go!"

..........................................................

"Chase! Leave me alone!" came a cry from a blonde haired beauty. "Why do you do this to everybody?"

"Because, Shelby, I pretty much run this place and I can have anything or any girl I want. And today I want you! So come here!" and with that Chase grabbed Shelby's arm and started to drag her towards the parking lot. The air was filled with her cries as people just watched, too scared of Chase to help poor Shelby.

"PLEASE!!! WHY AREN'T ANY OF YOU HELPING ME!? ARE YOU JUST GOING TO WATCH THIS!?" she screamed at the people as she tried to wrench her arm from Chase's grip. She almost thought she was dreaming when Chase let go of her arm, but came back to a cruel reality when he pushed her to the ground.

"WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!? ALL THAT SCREECHING IS PISSING ME OFF!!!" then he surprised her again by putting his face inches from hers and smirking. "I wonder if you scream this much in bed?" Shelby started to shake in fear and was growing more afraid by the second.

"SHELBY!!!" came a voice. Shelby turned to the direction of a voice thinking that somebody had finally come to their senses and decided to help.

"STANS!!!" she yelled. Malcolm, Ashton, and I stopped just short of Chase and Shelby. I was shaking in fright slightly, but not enough to really notice unless somebody was paying more attention to me than they should have been.

"Shelby, come on with us. You don't have to take this guy's crap." I walked over towards Shelby and took her hand. Chase looked somewhat dumbfounded, but only for a second.

"And where do you think you're going with MY girl, glasses?" and with that he knocked Shelby's hand out of mine.

"Shelby is not your girl and you have no right to treat people the way you do! Get up Shelbs, we're leaving." She slowly got up and walked to Malcolm and Ashton, but not before throwing me a glance that said more than words ever could. The glance went unnoticed by me, but not by Chace.

"You little shit! I don't know why you're acting so high and mighty, considering I beat you up on a daily basis. But I think I need to remind you of you place in the food chain!"

I turned around just in time to see his fist collide with my stomach. I fell to the ground as I clutched my stomach.

_'Damn it! Why does he always do me like this? It's always me that catches the worst of his anger! Why me?'_ "Why do you hate me so much?" I looked up, almost expecting him to give an honest answer. And he surprised me by giving me what he thought was an honest answer.

"Because nobody here likes you. Even the people you call your friends talk about you behind your back."

"YOU HAD BETTER SHUT UP!!!" came Ashton's voice from my left. I turned to her being held back by Malcolm and Malcolm was really struggling to hold her. "STANLEY, DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!!!"

Chase looked down at me and scoffed. "What? Do you LIKE this little piece of trash or something? Look at him! He's too scared to even fight back! I'm doing you all a favor by teaching this chump a lesson." He raised his foot and kicked me in the stomach. "How do you like that, honey?"

"Shut up."

Chase looked down at me. "What did you just say, you little shit?"

I looked up at him as a new sort of fury came over me. My body felt like it was getting hotter and hotter. "I said shut up. SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

He backed away as I shouted out, as did everybody else. Even Ashton, Malcolm, and Shelby retreated a bit. Unfortunately, Chase was only momentarily stunned.

"That's it. I've had enough of your crap. Time for you and my fist to get reacquainted, chump." He came towards me again with his arm cocked back and his hand in a tight fist.

"TOUCH HIM AND I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET EVER MESSING WITH MY BROTHER!!!" came another voice. Suddenly a blur of brown hair plowed into Chase's back. He cried in pain as the nails of Erica Lee were imbedded into his skin.

"ARG!!! GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!!!" Chase screamed as he pinched his eyes shut to shut out some of the pain Erica was giving him. She bit into his neck as he ran straight into the brick wall of the school.

Erica climbed off of the bully's back and spit on him. "Eww! I probably have rabies now. I am so going to take a hot shower when I get home to get his germs off of me."

The brown haired, brown eyed sophomore looked at her nails as she walked towards me. Erica was Caucasian and extremely energetic. She went to the same church as me and had viewed me as an older brother since we took a week long trip to Memphis the previous summer. She loved to wrestle with me and play around. Playing around usually involved taking my favorite hat and trying to keep it away from me. She was definitely my most unique friend and someone I was proud to call a little sister.

"Need some help getting up, brother?" she reached out and grabbed my hand.

I pulled myself up and dusted myself off. "Um, thanks, Erica. You know you didn't have to do that."

"I know that you were probably going to kick his butt in like five seconds, but I couldn't watch anymore. I just lost it when I saw that he was about to hurt you again. You know how much I love you." She looked at me with her light brown eyes. She was a bit on the skinny side, but she really did look great. Sometimes I wondered if maybe I should stop looking at her as a little sister and try to go out with her.

"You know me better than that. You knew that I wouldn't have done a thing. But thanks I guess. I can't believe I had to get saved by my little sister. How pathetic am I?"

"You're not pathetic at all. You're the only person here with any decency to stand up to that creep! You shouldn't feel bad because you're not a muscle head."

I looked to Shelby, still feeling pathetic for not being able to protect myself. "Shelby, you're way too nice to me. You should be worrying about yourself, not me."

"Well guess what. I'm not hurt and you are, so I'm going to worry about you, Stans. And, um," she suddenly walked up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She turned away with lightning speed, but not fast enough to hide the scarlet blush that had suddenly adorned her face. "I have to go home. And I certainly don't want to be around him."

As she reluctantly walked away from us the four of us looked over to the unconscious idiot on the ground. Most of the teachers had come out by now and other kids were telling them what had happened.

"Yo! I think we should all head to the band hall now," said Malcolm. We all nodded and with Erica now with the group we all headed to the band hall.

**Yup, I made myself a wimp on purpose. It's for character development later on. Besides, if I ever met anyone like Chase I would go Bruce Lee on him. "ONE INCH PUNCH!!!" Anyway, those who have read are probably wondering why nobody but me and Ash heard the screeching sound when whe called that strange number. Well I won't answer that here, but it will be revealed in later chapters. Anyway I have to get ready for a test this afternoon. Community college sucks. So I'll see you all in a few days with chapter 3. **


	3. Threatened

**I _still_ don't have any reviews? Wow, you guys are a tough crowd to please. Well I'll just have to keep being optimistic that eventually this fanfiction will catch on eventually. I will admit that this may not be the best story, but i have _attempted_ to read much, much worse. It'll pick up in time with more action, scout's honor. Anyway, here's another chapter. It goes a bit back to my past and why I'm so afraid of Chase. By the end of the chapter you'll see that my trip to the digital world is closer than you think. Well there's my two cents, please enjoy your chapter and _please, please _review.**

"normal print" somebody is talking

'normal print' quoting while someone is talking

_italisized print_ emphasis on a word

_'italisized print'_ a person's thoughts

"ALL CAPS" somebody is obviously pissed or maybe calling out to somebody

............................ time skip no jutsu

**Disclaimer: The digimon franchise is not mine in any way, shape, or form. But these gummy bears that i'm currently eating are.**

"Stanley, you're lucky Erica showed up when she did. Otherwise I'm not sure if me and Ashton could've saved you." The four of sat in front of the band hall while Ashton checked to make sure I was not seriously harmed.

"Thanks, Ash. You'd make a really good nurse or doctor one day. And, Malcolm, shut up. I'm just lucky that Erica is a firecracker." I looked to Erica and gave her a look of affection.

"Well it's not like I saved your life or anything. You could've taken him if you really wanted to. Me and you spar all the time and I've never won once."

Ashton looked back and forth between Erica and me, as if expecting us to start fighting on the spot. "You spar?"

I nodded. "Yeah, before I started going to Erica's church I lived in an apartment complex. I had some friends there that took karate and I would fight with them in my spare time."

"Bro, if you knew karate this whole time then how come you let Chase walk all over you all the time?"

I looked to Malcolm, unsure if I should say what I was thinking. "Chase took Judo in one of his old schools. He's a former regional champion." I looked to the others and saw their looks of disbelief. "What?"

"He's a regional Judo champion? That's a bit hard to believe. He's got the build for it, but I just can't see it."

"Well believe it! I actually saw him compete once back in junior high. It was brutal. He was like an animal stalking its next meal or something." I looked to the ground as I remembered the incident.

Ashton looked at me with a sad look on her face. "Stanley, what happened? You can tell us." She put hand on my shoulder as an act of comfort. I sighed as began to relate the details of what happened four years prior.

**.......................................**

_I looked towards the doors of the gym of Vicksburg high school, on a trip with some friends of mine to see the regional judo championships that were to be held that year._

_"Remind me why we're here again, C.J." I looked towards a somewhat chubby black boy of around thirteen years old._

_He rolled his eyes. "I told you yesterday, Stanley. We're here to try to watch different styles of fighting so we can get better training experience."_

_I looked at him like he had missed a very important fact. "Um, wouldn't we get more experience from actually fighting in the tournament, C.J.?" I watched as C.J. slapped himself in the forehead._

_"Why didn't I think of that? We could've just asked the people sponsoring this thing to let a couple of junior high school kids compete with a bunch of high school kids. Yup, that would've worked," he finished with a sly grin._

_I poked my lip out at him. "There's not need to be sarcastic. Let's just go in."_

_He nodded and we entered the gym with the large of crowd of spectators. The two of us found some seats near his parents who had driven us up there. We looked down towards the large circular platform in the middle of the gym, the arena for the contest. A match was well underway already._

_"Good job, Stanley. We've already missed a bit of the first match. Oh well, let's start learning." I nodded and began to watch what was left of the match._

_The two fighters looked like they were about junior year. One was a Latino with spiky hair. The other was a Caucasian with shoulder length blond hair that was tied up in a pony tail to keep it from getting in the way. The Latino currently had the Caucasian in a headlock._

_"C.J., what are these guys' names anyway?"_

_C.J. took the program guide that his dad had put down beside him and checked the match schedule. "Well if this thing is right then the Mexican guy's name is Gomez Martinez and the white guy is Chase Lewis."_

_"Okay. Is there anything else on that program about them?"_

_"Well it says that this Chase guy is last year's regional champion. That's odd."_

_I looked over his shoulder to see what he was looking at. "Come on. I wanna see what's odd." C.J. threw me the program and I looked at Chase's profile. "Hmmm, he's a freshman? What's odd about that?"_

_"If he were last year's champion then he would've won a high school competition when he was only in the eighth grade. You don't find that odd?"_

_I shook my head. "No, it doesn't. Maybe he's just stupid and failed a grade. I mean he does look older than a freshman."_

_C.J. looked at the bulky teen and nodded. "You've got a good point there. And he doesn't exactly look that smart. He can't even get out of that headlock."_

_"Um, I wouldn't speak too soon man." We both looked down to the arena. Chase had stood up was now elbowing Gomez in the stomach. Gomez loosened his grip just enough for Chase to grab his arm and fling him over his shoulder. Gomez hit the floor hard and looked as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He had lost._

_"Hmmm, I think I may have misjudged this Chase guy. That was a pretty standard way to get out of a headlock, but that over the shoulder toss was perfect. And I've never seen so much power put into one. But I'm curious as to what you would've done in that situation, Stanley."_

_I didn't say a word at first as I was replaying the moment in my mind. Then I came up with a couple of things. "Well if I were chase during that headlock I would've done a taken his legs out from under him and used my weight to add pressure to his abdomen. If I'm right he would only be able to hold onto me for about two seconds."_

_C.J. chuckled to himself. "What would you have done if you were Gomez when Chase was about to perform that over the shoulder throw?"_

_"Well that Chase guy seems to favor his right side when doing moves. I have really strong legs, so I would have bent my back when my feet hit the floor and put all of the pressure in his shoulders. Then I would've pulled him down to the ground face first. How does that sound?"_

_"You're getting better at this man. Hey look! Something's going on down there!"_

_I turned away from him and looked down towards the arena. The ref was just about to call the match when Chase jumped out of the ring and started to assault Gomez like a crazed animal. The ref tried to stop him but Chase started to attack him instead. All sorts of officials were coming out by now, trying to stop the crazed teen, but they were all swatted away like they were flies. Fearful that Chase would start to attack the crowd next the guards that were standing watch started to evacuate the spectators. C.J. and I got up just as Chase realized what was going on. He started running through the crowd of spectators, assaulting anyone he could put his hands on._

_"Stanley, we need to go!" C.J. started to push me forward with his family behind him as the crowd started to become panicked. I felt C.J.'s hands leave my back. I turned around just in time to see thrown from the stands and into the crowd of people on the floor._

_"C.J.!" I looked down into the crowd, trying to see if I could find my friend. I jumped from the stands and tried to find him, but I was found by somebody else instead. I turned my head and looked into the eyes of Chase Lewis for the first time. His eyes were scarlet with what I would find out in a few years was bloodlust. He must have looked insane to adults, but to a child of fourteen he seemed almost demonic. I fell to the floor and backed away from him as he began to tower over me. I was absolutely terrified. I couldn't even find my voice to shout out for help. But I did hear the shout of a familiar voice._

_"LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!!!" I looked up and saw C.J. jump on Chase's back. Chase simply grunted and threw C.J. back to the floor as a wave of people trampled over the spot._

**.................................................**

"Chase obviously got disqualified from the tournament and got taken to jail. He was under aged so he spent a few months in Juvee. Unfortunate he got expelled from his school and he ended up going here. Ever since that day I've been afraid of him. He's like my demon or something. The only reason I sort of stood up to him today is because he was messing with Shelby and she's my friend. But I was still too terrified to actually do anything."

I looked up towards the faces of my three friends. Malcolm had his head down and was rubbing the bridge of his nose while he slowly shook his head. Erica had her face in her hands and was softly crying to herself. Ashton just looked at me with a sullen look. All through my story her hand had been resting on my shoulder, but during the last part that hand had squeezed my shoulder as hard as it could. Tears slowly came to our eyes at the same time but I tried to hold mine back. Four years had gone by since that day and I hadn't cried once; I had never even told anybody this story. But as I tried to hold back my tears Ashton slowly moved closer to me and hugged me tightly.

"Stanley, you can let it out if you want to. I'm here for you. We all are." Her voice had become shaky at this point but she found the strength to say it still. This was a side of her I had never seen before. I took one last look at her tearful face then suddenly buried my face into her shoulder and bawled my eyes out.

After we all had gotten ourselves together we sat around in a circle and started talking. Malcolm coughed, signalizing that he was wondering if it was okay to ask a question. I slowly nodded.

"Well C.J. got trampled and I've never heard anybody talk about him. Is he….."

"Yeah, he is. Sometimes I think that it should've been me instead." I looked down then grunted as I felt Ashton punch my arm. "Ow! What was that for!?"

Instead of answering she grabbed me by my shirt and threw me to the ground. She jumped on me and immediately began to beat on my chest. "DON'T! YOU! EVER! SAY! THAT! IN! FRONT! OF! ME!" She stopped and rested her fists on my chest as her tears started fresh. "Don't you ever say that in front of me again."

I looked up at her and suddenly kissed her on the forehead. To say that she was taken back would be an understatement. She jumped up with a blush on her face and backed away from me until she backed into the big tree that we were taking shade under during the warm spring season. Erica and Malcolm went wide eyed as I chuckled at Ashton's antics. "What's wrong with you, Ash?"

She pointed a trembling finger at me and her other hand was touching the spot on her forehead where I had kissed her. "What's wrong with ME? How about what's wrong with YOU!? Why did you do that?"

"Because you've been a really good friend today, Ashton. All of you have." I gave her a look of great affection.

"Well, what did you expect me to do?" She closed her eyes and wiped the tears away from them. When she opened them again I was still giving her the same look of affection. _'I wish he would stop looking at me like that.'_ "Shouldn't we be talking about the dreams you've been having? That is what we came out here for, right?"

I suddenly turned around and looked away from her. _'Oh man. I was staring at her again. What's wrong with me?'_ "Yeah, we should be talking about the dreams."

"What dream, big brother?" Erica stood up and looked at me with her hands behind her head and gave me look that said "you've been keeping stuff from me."

I waited for Ashton to sit down again before I relayed the story of the first dream of the digimon with Erica. When I finished she looked at me like I was stupid.

"Stanley, they're just dreams. Are you STUPID!?" she put a lot of emphasis on the word "stupid". Unlike Ashton, Malcolm, and I Erica wasn't into the whole fantasy thing.

"Ugh! No, I'm not stupid. I've been having these dreams for months and it was always the same one until last night. And how do you explain what my alarm clock was doing?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe there's a short in it or something."

The rest of us all slapped our foreheads and said in unison, "AT THE EXACT SAME POINT IN THE DREAM EVERYTIME!? ARE YOU STUPID!?"

She gave us all looks of great contempt then relaxed. "Okay. That part I will admit was very strange. So now that I'm in the loop, are you gonna tell me about the dream you had last night?"

I adjusted my glasses and looked to them all. "Yes, you and Malcolm both. That's what we were headed over here for when the Chase/Shelby thing happened." I suddenly stopped as Ashton punched me in the head. I whipped my head around and glared at her. "What the heck was that for!?"

"I just remembered that you said 'believe it' earlier. What have I told you about quoting the English dub of Naruto?"

I pouted. "That you would punch me in the head every time I said 'believe it'. What the crap, Ash!" I moved my head just in time to dodge another punch from Ashton.

"You said believe it again."

"That time doesn't count because you just asked me what you said about me saying, um, that phase and I answered it."

"CAN WE JUST GET ON TO THE BLEEPING DREAM!?"

The two of us cowered because of the sheer magnitude of Erica's screech. She sure did have a healthy set of lungs.

"Um, right. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. Well first of all, the dream went to where it always does, but then it skipped."

"Skipped? Skipped how?"

"Well I think it fast forwarded a few centuries into the future." I stopped because I could tell Erica and Malcolm both had questions.

"A few centuries? How do you know that?"

"Well the dream skipped to a forest and two monsters were fighting, a bear and a white dinosaur. Well the bear was really beat up and the dinosaur was bullying him."

"Why was he bullying him, brother?"

"Well, like I told Ashton earlier, I think it was because of me." I looked to the two of them and they gave me weird looks. "The bear mentioned me by name. He said the two of us were gonna save his world. That's when the dinosaur mentioned that the bear's mother beat Quetzalmon centuries ago. And he said that the bear was a fool because there was no way something as weak sounding as a human could've helped beat him. Then the bear shouted at him. I thought that maybe that dinosaur would've backed off the little guy then, but it looked like he was about to finish him off instead. And that's when my phone started ringing and I woke up."

"That's weird that your phone just went off at a random time, man. It was just like your alarm clock was doing." I looked at Malcolm and nodded.

"So what happened with the phone, brother?"

"Well at first I thought it was Ash because she told me that she would call me at seven to wake me up since it was her idea to unplug the alarm."

"But it wasn't me. His phone rang at close to two in the morning and he called me about it. I told him to check his call log because I hadn't called him." Ashton looked at me with a bright smile. Tag teaming on stories was kind of fun with her.

"Well you two tell us what happened when Stanley checked his call log."

"Okay. Well when I checked it I found this weird number. Then I called it."

"This is getting really good. Tell us what happened when you called it. Did someone answer?" The two of them started to move in closer to Ashton and I. the suspense was killing them.

"Well when he called the phone this weird noise came out of his phone. It was like a loud static noise that filled the whole room. Stanley said that he thought his head was gonna explode."

"And then Ashton, like an idiot, asked to call it because she thought that maybe something was wrong with my phone. She said that it might work if we called it on hers. And I, like an idiot, let her call it. The sound came out again, this time from her phone and we both nearly passed out."

"Luckily for us I managed to hang up. But when we looked around to see if anybody else had heard it nobody looked as if they had even heard a hint of the sound. It was weird. Then Stanley got the idea the number was actually a code. He texted it out and got the word 'Kumamon'. That was the name of the bear in his dream. And according to the dream this monsters are called digimon."

Erica and Malcolm both stared with open mouths. Erica spoke first though. "Wow. Just wow. Consider me a believer because even I have to admit that that is way beyond coincidental. That's just so weird."

I had to laugh at that. Even the skeptical Erica was stumped on this one. Suddenly a beeping sound filled the air, making us all jump in surprise. We all turned to see a green car parked by the band hall. Malcolm waved to the car and then turned to us.

"Well there's my dad. I gotta go. Stanley, we'll talk tomorrow, right?"

I nodded to him and smiled. "Definitely. See you tomorrow man."

Malcolm waved to the rest of us then ran down to his dad's car and they drove off. Erica stood up too and started to walk into the band hall. "Well I have to go to my trombone lessons now. Brother, if we don't talk tomorrow in school we can talk at church tomorrow night. Okay?"

I nodded and she left to go in the band hall. The only ones left now were Ashton and I.

"So what do you want to do now, Stanley? It's not like we have algebra homework or anything."

"Um, actually we do. I did mine during jazz band, but you never do yours."

She reared back and punched me in the arm. I winced and rubbed it as she stood up. "Well it's not my fault that you're a nerd."

I growled at her. "Well you sure don't say that when I copy notes for you while you sleep in class." We both began to growl at one another and then we both started to laugh. "Speedy Tortoise."

"Slow Bunny."

I looked in the direction of my house and sighed. "Well, Ash, I think I might just go home. I've had a long day."

"I agree. I can drive you to your house if you want. I know you must be really tired." She knew that the reason I walked to school everyday was because I didn't have a car of my own so she often offered to drive me. I always declined her generous offers. This time was no different.

"Nope. It's good training for my legs."

Ashton pouted as she grabbed my arm and basically dragged me towards the parking lot. "You could at least see me off, Stanley."

I laughed and moved my legs so she didn't have to drag me. "Fine, I can do that much for my best friend."

When we got to the car, a '95 Pontiac Grand Am, I jumped up and sat on the trunk of it. Ashton hated when I did that.

"Stanley, get your humongous fanny off of my car. I swear if you put a dent in it I will kill you."

"But what if I don't want to, Ashton?" I closed my eyes and gave her a big smile and hissed when I felt a fist hit my arm. "Okay! I'm off! Geez."

Ashton rubbed her fist as I slid off of the car. "Stanley, I hate to say this, but you need to start working out. Your arm is kind of flabby. I don't think that Shelby would like a guy with flabby arms."

I quirked an eyebrow in her direction. "And what is that supposed to mean?

Ashton leaned against her car and crossed her arms. "Don't think I didn't notice the looks she gave you when you 'saved her'. And not to mention that kiss she gave you before she left."

"What are you talking about, Ash?"

Now it was Ashton's turn to quirk her eyebrows. "You're not playing dumb, are you? You seriously haven't noticed the way she looks at you when you're not looking." I shook my head. "Wow, Stanley. You are so oblivious to females."

"Could you just shut it and tell me what you're getting at, Ash?"

She smirked and gave me the pouty face that I hated so much and in a really girlish voice she slowly said, "But how can I shut it and tell you at the same time?"

I growled at her and gave in. "Fine, I'm sorry. You know how much it annoys me when you do that."

She gave me an angry pout. "Well some guys think it's hot when girls do that. I think you're the only guy that think it's annoying."

"Well you're my friend. I'm not supposed to find it hot. Now can we just get back to the issue at hand?"

"Fine." _'You'd probably like it better if Shelby did it anyway.'_ "The thing is that she gave you a kind of look when she walked past you, a look that a girl only gives to a guy that she likes. Even Chase recognized the look. That's why he suddenly got so angry and tried to beat you up."

"You mean he's jealous of me?" She nodded. "That's preposterous! He may be an insane jerk but he's still more attractive that I am. And Shelby is awesome and everything, but why would she like a guy like me?"

Ashton shrugged and chuckled. "Who knows? Maybe you're just lucky." She walked over to me and hugged me. Needless to say it was a very awkward moment for me. "I have to go home now. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

I simply smiled and nodded as she let go of me and got into the car. As she drove off I started thinking to myself. _'She's never hugged me before today and today she hugged me about a dozen times. It felt…..nice.'_ I frowned. _'I'm thinking odd thoughts again. Oh well, since she's gone.'_ "Believe it!" I chuckled inwardly. "She's gonna instinctively know that I said it when I go to school tomorrow. Guess it's time I went home." I turned to walk down the road when I heard footsteps behind me and fell on my face when somebody shoved me down.

"Oh you're not leaving yet, glasses."

I recognized the voice immediately. Without turning around stood up and examined my face, a small cut here and there but nothing serious. Then I slowly turned around and once again looked into the almost demonic eyes of Chase Lewis. Without my friends there or a reason to stand up to him I started to tremble. "W-w-what do you want, Chase?"

He gave me his most evil grin. He looked exactly like he had on the day I first looked into his horrible eyes. "Looks like you're not so brave without your little girlfriend around to cheer you on. Well I'm here to tell you that you and your anorexic so called sister got me suspended for six days."

At the sound of that news I nearly jumped for joy.

"But I know that you would probably enjoy my absence way too much. So I've decided that I'm gonna make those six days miserable for you."

I gulped and began to shake even harder. "W-w-what do you mean by that?"

He suddenly punched me in the stomach and kicked me to the ground. Then he grabbed me by my neck and started to squeeze, choking off my air supply. "When I get back here next Thursday, me and you are gonna give a little show. I'm going to give you the beating of your life. I want you to live this next week in fear. And if you don't show up I'm going to take the beating that I was going to give and I'm gonna give it to that fat ass girl that you like to hang around with. Or maybe I'll give it to that Erica girl."

Though I was still terrified I started to give a low growl at his remark. "Leave Ashton and Erica out of this, Chase. This has nothing to do with them."

He let me go and shoved me to the ground. "Then you'd better show up." I gave him one last look of contempt before he reared his foot back and kicked me in the face. He smirked and started to walk away. "Later, glasses."

As he walked away I put a finger to my now bleeding lip and picked myself up. "I'm just glad that nobody was around to see that." I slowly walked down the road angry and yet terrified about the words that Chase had said.

Unbeknownst to me somebody HAD seen everything. The foreign pair of brown eyes that had watched me sleep the other night followed me home through the bushes as I walked. With me still being unaware of its presence the owner of the eyes came out of the bushes and spoke to itself. "That's Stanley? He seems so….not what I had expected in a partner." The person touched the crescent moon shaped scar on his forehead. "He's just like I used to be before I realized that whole village hated me." He gave my back one last look before he crept back into the bushes. "For the sake of the digital world, I hope I picked the right person to help me save it."

**Yes, I'm a big crybaby, I know. But I don't believe that us guys should hold stuff like that in for the sake of "looking manly." I left many unanswered questions for you guys to ponder. "Is there more to Chase than meets the eye? Is there a Stanley/Ashton/Shelby love triangle going on? Why is Erica so dang loud? (that's one i'm still trying to figure out) Will I really fight Chase? And who exactly is my mysterious stalker?" That last one should be easy. Anyway, I'll see you guys in a while. Again, please review. I can't say that enough.**


	4. Imagination

**Hello again everybody! To all of my faithful readers (whose names I do not know or that you even exist) I have returned! Sorry for the late update, I've been very busy with class and research papers. ugh! I meant to have this up a few weeks ago, but ideas come very very slowly. On a more positive note I would like to thank broken angel01 for being the first to review my story and getting me really pumped up to do more. I'm a big fan of yours and I read your ftfod almost religiously. Um, -looks around and blushes in embarrasment- on with the story. I would like to think that this is the most humorous chapter to date and I have a few surprises in store for the readers. Now, please enjoy your crappy fanfic. I'm kidding, it's going to be AWESOME!!! Also please read and review. It would put a big smile on my face if you did.**

"normal print" somebody is talking

'normal print' quoting while someone is talking

_italisized print_ emphasis on a word

_'italisized print'_ a person's thoughts

"ALL CAPS" somebody is obviously pissed or maybe calling out to somebody

............................ time skip no jutsu

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON!!! DID I SAY IT LOUD ENOUGH!?**

"What am I going to do?" I asked myself as I stood in the back yard standing against the strong spring wind. I looked down at my hands clenched them into fists. _'There's no point in trying to fight Chase. Even if I could somehow back out he would only go after Ashton and Erica to make me suffer.'_ I threw a punch to the air and began a short shadow boxing regiment. I spread my legs, left in front of right and shifted my weight back on my right leg. I bent my right arm as much as I could with my fist right beside my right cheek and my elbow pointing almost straight outwards. My left arm was angled diagonal to the ground with my elbow bent at almost a 90 degree angle, my regular righting stance. "I'm not sure what I should do, but a little shadow spar can help to burn some anger off." I then stepped forward with my right leg and punched out with my right fist. I continued the shadow spar with a series of punches and kicks that last about half an hour and prepared to go in the house to wash up. I stepped inside the house, not knowing that I had been watched the entire time.

A pair of brown eyes watched from the bushes and the owner of the brown eyes shook his head. "Stanley, you have a lot to learn if that's the best you can do. Your technique is so bad you could probably get beaten by a fairly strong Tokomon." He looked at his fists, covered in blue straps. "I suppose I could teach you a bit when we leave tomorrow." He looked up at the sky as night time started to take over. "Not much longer now." He then hopped to my window to see me in my sleeping attire and on the phone.

"Are you serious, Stanley?"

"Yeah, Malcolm. He cornered me right after Ashton left and said that if I didn't fight him next Thursday he would go after Erica and Ashton. I don't know what to do man." I got up and looked towards my window and saw something. I squinted my eyes and pushed my glasses up the bridged of my nose as I slowly walked over to the window.

"Yo, Bro. You still there?"

I peeked out of the window and saw nothing outside. _'That's odd. I could've sworn I saw a silhouette of someone looking through my window'_

"STANLEY!!!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin as Malcolm shouted into the phone. I started to beat my fist against my heart to try to regulate its pace. "Geez, Malcolm. Give me a heart attack, why don't ya!"

"My bad man. You just went silent and I was wondering if something happened to you."

I could hear the concern in his voice and decided that I shouldn't make him worry. "I'm okay. I just thought I saw something out of my window, but I guess it was my imagination."

"Running away with me!" finished Malcolm.

"Dude, you redefine what it means to be a moron," I laughed.

Malcolm laughed through the phone. "Maybe man, but I know that you or nobody else would want me to be any other way. Anyway, its time for me to go to bed. G'night, Stanley"

I sighed. "G'night, Malcolm. Don't play video games too late into the night again." And with that I hung up the phone and jumped into bed. As I stared at the ceiling as all of today's event ran though my head, but the two that seemed to hold the most significance for me were when I told Ashton and the others about my past and how Ashton acted towards me afterward. "She's so weird, but maybe that's why I feel like we fit so well together as best friends."

**...............................................**

A ringing sound filled the air as I sat up abruptly and grabbed my phone. "This better not be another weird call or I'm gonna be pissed." I looked at the phone before answering it and put it to my ear. "Hello."

"Stanley!"

"Um, Ashton?"

"Where are you?"

"In bed?"

"In bed? Why are you at school yet? The bell's gonna ring in like fifteen minutes. It's 7:30!"

I looked at the phone in disbelief. 7:31. "What in the……why didn't my alarm go off!?" I looked at it, only to see it unplugged. _'Crap, I unplugged it in case I had another dream. Speaking of that, I didn't have a dream last night. That's odd.' _"Ash, I'll be there in a few. I can't believe this!" I hung up the phone and quickly put my clothes on and grabbed my books. Just as I was about to head out of the back door I remembered something. "Since I'm obviously having a bad day I might as well wear my good luck charm today." I quickly ran back into my room and opened a large chest that was in my closet and started to pull trinkets and things out to find my prize. "Finally!" I said as I pulled out a blue hat. It was a standard hat, only on the back of it the word "BEARS" was written in a bold, black lettering. I quickly threw most of the stuff back into the chest and was about to head back out of the door when out of the corner of my eye I saw something small lying on the floor. "I must've somehow dropped my phone." Thinking that, I picked it up and thrust it into my pocket without even looking at it or paying attention to it. I ran through the house to the back door, grabbed my books, jumped out of the back door, and ran down the road to school.

**.................................................**

Ashton was pacing laps around her car with Malcolm and Erica watching her with mild amusement. Every now and then she would huff and kick the ground. "Where is he!? If he's not here in five minutes he'll be late for school. And how could he not tell me about what happened after I left!?"

Malcolm backed away a bit for his own safety and looked in the direction that my house was in. "Technically he has fifteen minutes and then he's tardy. The bell may ring in five, but the first tardy bell doesn't ring until ten minutes after that. As for the Chase thing, he wasn't sure how he was gonna tell you about that."

"But still, brother shouldn't keep secrets from us. And besides," Erica looked to Ashton, who was fuming at this point, and with her mind's eye imagined her stomping around with horns, a tail, and a pitchfork, "I think he should be more afraid of her than of anybody else."

"Believe it! That's why I'm hiding behind her car where she can't see me," came a whisper.

Erica and Malcolm both bolted off of the hood of Ashton's car and turned around to see me hiding behind the car. "STANLEY?" they both said.

I put a finger to my mouth to silence them, but I was too late.

"YOU!!!" came the shout of the devil.

I sighed and gave Ashton a blank stare. "I knew today was gonna be a bad day." I braced my arm, expecting her usually punch, but was given a nasty surprise when she suddenly performed a perfect roundhouse kick and hit my squarely in the face.

"THAT WAS FOR SAYING BELIEVE IT THEN AND YOU PROBABLY SAID IT YESTERDAY WHEN I LEFT TOO!!! I WOULDN'T PUT IT PAST YOU!!! AND SPEAKING OF YESTERDAY, YOU HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!!! DO YOU HEAR ME, STANLEY!?" She kicked me a bit hard in the back, but I didn't move. "Um, Stanley?" She sat me up and looked at me. My mouth was open and my tongue was hanging out of my mouth. My eyes looked pure white and they had rolled back into my head. "AHHH!!! I THINK I KILLED HIM!!!"

As she started to shake me wildly a pair of big, brown eyes in the bushes stared in amazement and disbelief at the scene in front of him. "I can't believe how weak Stanley is. To be taken by surprise like that is downright embarrassing. Maybe I should make that other human my partner. Her roundhouse kick was perfect." He watched as I came to and she immediately started pounding on me again and he gave a blank stare. "On second thought, I'll keep Stanley as a partner. I'm too afraid of dying to have a partner like her." He submerged himself in the bushes as the first bell rang. "I'll get to him later today."

"AND DON'T YOU EVER KEEP ANYTHING FROM ME AGAIN!!!" Ashton threw me to the ground and stomped off towards her first period class.

Luckily for me my brother and sister were there to give me a hand. "Do you guys think she'll let me explain later?"

Erica gave me a blank look and Malcolm just chuckled and shook his head.

"Dude, the way she just pounded you I would think that you would have to wait a while before she calms down. She's royally mad."

"And for good reason too, brother."

I sighed and gave my 'sister' an angry look. "You're mad at me too?" I just gave an exasperated sigh as she nodded her head over-enthusiastically. "I really think that the universe is against me today."

"Well at least I'm not beating you up too. But that's only because I think Ashton beat you up enough for the both of us. Maybe enough for Shelby too."

I started to think about my blonde friend. _'I didn't even think about Shelby. She probably won't be aggressive like Ashton and Erica, but she'll still be pretty torn up about it.'_ "I should probably tell Shelby about this later too, even though Chase didn't mention threatening her."

"Well it could've been an understood threatening." Malcolm definitely had a point. Fortunately I doubted Chase was smart enough to think about something like that.

As the three of us started to walk towards the school I gave my thoughts about Chase's intelligence. "I really don't believe that Chase is smart enough to think like that."

I heard a snort beside me and I snorted back to Erica. "Well, brother, you had better believe it. Otherwise you'll get caught off guard just in case he did think of that."

"Ch. Whatever. Huh?" The sound of somebody running in our direction from the school became louder and louder as the sky seemed to suddenly darken.

"Dude, is that Ash? What could she want?"

"Maybe she wants to apologize for beating up brother."

We all looked ahead to see the look on her face. It was murderous.

"I really don't think that the kind of face you make when you apologize to somebody. Who pissed her off this time?" Suddenly it came to me. I suddenly snapped my head to the person whose fault it was. "ERICA, YOU IDIOT!!! YOU SAID 'BELIEVE IT' EARLIER!!! NOW SHE'S COME FOR ME!!! THE ANGEL OF DEATH!!!"

"Oh calm down. Why would she pound you for it if I said it?"

Before I could give her an answer Ashton plowed into me and began the beating anew.

My two friends who would normally risk death for me stared on with wide eyes, surprisingly not taking any steps to help. My screams of pain did nothing but make them more afraid of the blue eyed demon.

"He's right. The universe is definitely against him today."

"Aren't we even going to help him?"

"HELP ME!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELP ME!!!"

The two of them just sighed and headed for their respective classes, leaving me to my horrible fate.

**..........................................**

For most of the day I got strange stares, as if I were supposed to be dead or something. It looked like word had traveled fast about the fight. I heard everything from snickers to prayers from nicer people that I wouldn't have every bone in my body broken. Anybody stupid or suicidal enough to mention the fight in front of Ashton Taylor was sent flying down the hallway. At least I wasn't the only one facing her wrath.

"Bro, I think if we can get enough people to make Ashton mad then maybe she'll forget all about being angry at you. Anyway, your solo's coming up."

"Yeah, thanks Malcolm." I sat up straight and watched for the band director to cue me for my French horn solo. The majestic, mighty sound rang through the band hall for about ten seconds. That may not seem like a long time, but when you play an instrument time seems to stretch on. The clapping started and quickly died down as I finished playing. Almost as soon as I laid my horn in my lap the sound of the bell rang throughout the grounds. The two hundred and fifty-three of us got up and put our instruments and prepared to head to lunch.

"Alright man, you ready to eat lunch?" said Malcolm after he placed his tuba back in its case.

I looked over to where Ash was locking up her trumpet case, she didn't seem any happier now than she was earlier. If anything it looked her anger had gained intensity. A small part of me felt really sad that I pretty much ruined her day, but a bigger part of me was jumping for joy at the prospect of eating lunch. "Yeah, lets go."

We left the band hall and began to make our way over across the parking lot over to the cafeteria. Out of the corner of my eye I could see something fall out of the bushes and then quickly scurry back behind them. "Hey, Malcolm. Did you see something?"

"Less talking, more walking," he said as he grabbed my arm and suddenly started to drag me across the parking lot.

As soon as Malcolm and I were out of sight the thing in the bushes poked its head out and sighed in relief. "Whew. That was _way_ too close. I can't have him find out I'm here just yet, but very soon." At that moment it just happened to turn it's head to the right to see Ashton stomping through the crowd of people walking on the sidewalk, growling at anyone she passed. "Holy crap! It's the _scary _human!" It quickly pulled his head back into the bushes and rocked back and forth as it held itself out of fear.

**....................................................**

"Hey, Malcolm. Hey, Stans." said a voice to my side as I just stared at my lunch. With the way I was feeling I probably wouldn't have been able to differentiate people's voices, but there was only one person in the world who called me "Stans".

With a somber tone I responded to her salutations. "Hi, Shelbs."

The two other occupants of our area of the table seemed to sense the discomfort I was in. "Uh, Stanley, what's wrong with you dude?"

I shrugged and moved my blue hat over so I could put my head down. Unfortunately this brought some unwanted attention to my hat from Shelby.

"Hey, nice hat. I don't think I've ever seen you wear it though. Is it new?" She made a move to reach for it, but I suddenly snatched it away from her. "Hey, that was rude of you! Why'd you do that?"

"You'll have to excuse him, Shelby. That's his _special _hat that he only wears when he feels like he's gonna have a bad day. Supposedly it's supposed to bring him good luck. He doesn't let ANYBODY touch it, not even me."

Everybody but me looked up to see Ashton standing up at the other side of the table, about to sit down.

"I'm sorry about beating up on you, Stanley. But I was upset that you wouldn't tell me about something like that, especially since it happened right after I left. Maybe I could've helped or something."

There was real concern in her voice but I couldn't let any of them get involved. "Don't worry about it right now. Chase isn't here so let's just look forward to the trip to Disney World." Our high school band, being as awesome as it was, was set to perform in one of the daily parades in the Magic Kingdom. We had all been looking forward to it for months, even though this was our third year in a row doing it.

Shelby suddenly slapped herself in the forehead, making us all jump.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, I forgot all about the trip and I have to go pack." She stood up, apparently leaving. She started saying bye to us all, but before she said it to me I remembered what Ash had said the day prior. I paid close attention as she looked at me and said her farewell. "Bye, Stans." I noticed that she seemed to blush a bit and she smiled a bit bigger towards me than she did towards the others, her eyes seemed to try to pierce through mine.

'_Ash was right about the way Shelby looks at me. Bah! That doesn't mean anything though. She could just be grateful for what happened yesterday.' _I waved at her as she started to leave. As soon as she was out of the cafeteria I turned to Ash.

"Well? Did you see what I was talking about Stanley?"

With my lip poked out I crossed my arms and said, "Yeah, I saw the looks. But they don't exactly mean anything. Maybe she's just really happy to see me because of what happened yesterday." The look on my face turned to one of fear as Ash gave me a look of pure bloodlust.

"Why must you test my patience?"

I suddenly stood and frantically wave my arms out in from of me in defense. Luckily for me the bell rang just as she was about to jump over the table to end my pitiful existence. I quickly grabbed my books and ran out of the door, yelling as I did so. "SORRY, ASH!!! I'LL SEE YOU SIXTH PERIOD!!!"

"Humph!!! I'm so going to get him one of these days."

Malcolm chuckled silently to himself as they proceeded to leave the lunchroom as well. "You'll have to beat Shelby to it though."

"Do you want to get slapped, Malcolm?"

"Not really."

"Then shut it!"

"Yes ma'am!"

**............................................**

Sixth period went as usual, with me being the victim of a severe arm beating by the hands of Ashton.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Chase. So would you please stop punching me in the arm? I can't even feel it anymore. And I thought you were done beating on me for the day."

Ashton's repeated punches to arm had caused it to become numb and limp at my side. "I guess I could and i did say that, but you have to promise me one thing."

At this point I was really tired of our fellow sixth period students staring at the peculiar sight going on at the left side of the classroom. I only had one choice. "Anyway, just please stop."

She finally ceased her assault on my arm and turned my face towards hers. "Never put yourself in unnecessary situations like that again after this." The look on her face seemed to show so much concern I thought I was looking at a different person.

I nodded and she let go of my face. Curious and a bit embarrassed that she did such a gesture as touching my face like she did I tapped her on the shoulder.

"What is it, Stanley?"

"Um, I though you were gonna do something else for a minute there."

"Huh? What could you have possibly......**,"** she paused and went wide-eyed as she realized what I was talking about. "You though I was going to _kiss _you!? Who would want to kiss you besides Shelby?"

"Shut up!"

**..............................................**

School had finally ended for that Wednesday and I was ready to go home. I quickly put on my special blue hat as I headed down the road towards home, I was feeling especially unlucky for some reason.

'_I have a really bad feeling right now. I'd better be careful, especially since I feel like somebody's watching me.'_

I began to jog a bit to get home faster, crossing the street to the baseball fields that led to my house at a somewhat rushed pace. But instead of feeling a bit more relieved I felt even more nervous than I had a few minutes prior.

"You know you shouldn't walk alone in a place like this _glasses."_

At the word _glasses_ I quickly turned sideways to one of the dugouts, in which stood two boys. They both looked to be close to my age, albeit a bit older. I looked closely at the two of them. They were two of Chase's "friends" that followed him wherever he went and pretty much were his cronies. I looked ahead in the direction of my house. _'Damn, I was almost home. What do they want?'_ "Listen, I don't want any trouble. Chase said he was gonna take care of me himself so there's no point in doing anything to me.

One of the two, a spiky haired guy stepped towards me. I stepped into a defensive fighting stance. I may have been terrified of Chase, but I wasn't afraid to at least defend myself against anyone else.

"I'm gonna say this one more time. There's no point in doing anything to me."

He began to laugh loudly as he progressed towards me. "Chase ain't got nothin' to do with this. We're just doin' this because we feel like it." He suddenly ran up and threw a punch with his left fist towards my face.

'_Too slow'_ Thinking quickly I swung my right arm widely and managed to hook his arm in mine. I smirked. _'Maybe this won't be so hard after-! What the?' _I looked down to see that the other guy had snuck over to us and thrown a jab into my stomach. Immediately I kneeled over to my hands and knees in front of my oppressors.

The two in question were laughing while standing over me, taking pleasure in my pain. "Look at that, Jason. He's begging at our feet."

"Ch. Just like the dog that he is. How about we take a little trophy with us?" And with that he reached down and snatched my blue bears hat off of my head. "Look at this ugly thing. A stupid, ugly hat for a stupid, ugly weakling." At this Jason's buddy howled in laughter.

I reached for my hat but winced when my hand was kicked away. "Give me my hat back!" I yelled.

The two of them ignored and began to walk back down the road towards the school. Then suddenly something unexpected happened. A brown blur shot out of the bushes and plowed right into Jason, knocking him out cold. Before the other guy had a chance to move the blur jumped into the air and by the looks of it roundhouse kicked him in the face, knocking him out as well. The blur finally slowed down and took the shape of a small child, or at least that's what it looked like from the distance I was at. It reached down and picked up the hat then slowly walked towards me. I was feeling embarrassed at first that I had been saved by a child, but as it came closer my embarrassment turned into disbelief as my eyes grew to sizes unheard of.

"You're-? That's impossible! You can't be here!

It reached a hairy paw down and tossed the hat onto my head. If it were possible my eyes got even _wider _than they already had been as the being bent down to get a closer look at me. My eyes scanned every one of his features, from his snout, to his large, brown eyes, and finally to the crescent moon shaped scar on his forehead.

"Ku-Kumamon?"

The bear digimon stood up before me and made a disappointed sigh. "Ah. So you're the guy I waited for all these years? How disappointing."

**Ah! The plot thickens! Told you I had a few surprises for the readers. This was probably the best way I could have introduced Kumamon into a active roll, by saving my beloved hat. Yea, I know I'm an idiot. But I have a firm belief that it's better to be an idiot than a jerk and I'm sticking to that belief. Wow, I'm always getting off track. Anyway, the main part of the story will start in the next chapter. Next stop: The digital world and the beginning of a great adventure! And another thing. Was I the only one who thought that the beat down near the beginning of the chapter was funny? Oh well, again, read and review.**


	5. Departure

**Haha! I have returned from the land of research papers and final exams to bring you chapter five of P.O.T.C. It was a long and agonizing journey, but I made it through safely.**

**Kumamon: Oh could you just shut up with the theatrics and talk to the few readers you have. No wonder no one reads your crummy fanfic.**

**Me: *frowns* Are you mad because I turned you into a jerk?**

**Kumamon: *pouts* No! Now explain your absence or I'm going to hurt you!**

**Me: Fine! *grumbles* Stupid bear. Anyway, sorry for the late update but I've been really busy with multiple research papers and college finals.......and maybe a bit of ultimate frisbee on the side. On a side note I would like to thank Catching Rain for being my second reviewer. Dude, you are AWESOME!!! Now we get down to the main story and some, dare i say it, ACTION!!! Yes, we finally get to see some fighting and a lot of questions are answered, although I will admit that this may not be the best chapter in the beginning part, but I promise it gets WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better towards the middle and the end. I won't say how though. Also, if you're fans of the other characters: Ash, Erica, Malcolm, Shelby, etc..., you won't be hearing from them for quite some time except through flashbacks and conversations about them, so I'm sorry in advance. Also, please read and review because it pleases me. Now that that's over let's get on to the story, shall we? Kumamon! Do the disclaimer or face my wrath!**

**Kumamon: What? Why do i have to do it!? **

**Me: Because I said so bro. Or do you want to be chopped in half later on?**

**Kumamon: *ponders* Fine! I'll do your crummy disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: My idiot of a partner does not of own Digimon. Oh thank God for that.**

"normal print" somebody is talking

'normal print' quoting while someone is talking

_italisized print_ emphasis on a word

_'italisized print'_ a person's thoughts

"ALL CAPS" somebody is obviously pissed or maybe calling out to somebody

".............." sweatdrop moment

**"bold print" **voice of the digivice

**"BOLD PRINT, ALL CAPS" **an attack

............................ time skip no jutsu

"Ku-Kumamon?" I stammered again, seeing the one being I thought would never appear before my eyes.

The digimon in question scowled at me and crossed his arms. "Well are you gonna get off your ass anytime soon?"

To say that I was surprised would be an understatement. Was this really the same Kumamon from my dreams? The Kumamon I had dreamed about that night was timid and quiet, but this one seemed brash and assertive. But then I looked back up to the scar on his forehead. It had to be the same digimon. "You're Kumamon, right? The same one that I had been dreaming about?"

The scowl remained on his face signifying that this question annoyed him. "So what if I am?"

Slowly I got to my feet and put on my hat while looking more closely at Kumamon. He stood maybe a little lower than my chest so I would guess that he was about four feet tall. His fur was a dark brown, about the same shade as my skin. His two paws had blue straps hooked all around themselves as if they were restraining something and a longer strap was wrapped around his waist and shoulder, like the kind of thing a hall monitor would wear. His face looked like it would hold a permanent scowl and finally there was the crescent moon scar on his forehead. The more I looked at him the more impossible it seemed that he could've possibly been here.

He finally got tired of watching me stare at him as I slowly got up so he grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet.

"OW! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR!?"

If anything that seemed to make him even more annoyed than before. "I got tired of you staring at me with that stupid look on your face! Now come on! We don't have a lot of time." He turned in the direction of my house and made three large leaps into my back yard. I was almost speechless.

"No freaking way."

I was knocked out of my stupor by a yell coming from his direction. "COME ON!!! WE HAVE TO HURRY!!!"

I secured my hat even more firmly into place on my head and ran through the baseball field, instead of around it, and hopped the fence into my backyard. As I walked over to the impatient bear digimon I began to think to myself. _'I'm definitely convinced that this is the same Kumamon from my dreams, but this only brings up a lot of questions. And if he's real, then were those dreams actually dreams? I'm so confused.' _I held my face in my hands as all the questions and confusion started to give me a headache, but I quickly recovered and gave Kumamon a sincere look. "Kumamon, I have so many questions right now. I mean, I'm so confused. Tell me what's going on."

For the first time in since he had first saved me a few minutes prior he seemed a bit sympathetic, as if he were unsure about something. He looked down for a minute then looked up into my face with a determined look. "You need to get out the little device you picked up this morning before you left your home. Judging by the look on your face this morning when you picked it up you must have thought it was that little machine that you talk to yourself on, but I'm going to tell you now that it wasn't."

A little confused at first I thought back to what had happened this morning after I had gotten my hat out of my chest and saw what I thought was my cell phone and put the object in my pocket. If what Kumamon was saying was right then I had something other than my cell phone in my pocket. I reached down into my pocket and pulled out two objects: my cell phone and what looked to be a little, red game machine. "What is this thing?" I held it up in front of Kumamon's face. "Did you leave this for me to find?"

"Yes, it's called a digivice and it'll help get you to the digital world safely, if you're not too much of a weakling to take the trip that is."

"Excuse me, but what makes you think that I'm just gonna go to your world willingly like that? Especially since you've been very rude to me since you saved my hat."

"I'll tell you everything. The dreams, how I got here. Absolutely every question that's going through your little mind right now. All you have to do is come with me."

He seemed to know exactly what would arouse my curiosity. I put my palm to the back of my head and rubbed. "Well will I be able to come back here? I won't be trapped there, will I?"

"To be honest I don't really know. That's just a chance you're gonna have to take. I will tell you this though. If you ever do get back here you'll be a lot stronger than when you left. Even strong enough to beat that big human that was messing with you yesterday. That much I can promise you. Either way my time here is up." The short digimon turned around and let out a breath. Then all of a sudden he clapped his hands together and began to chant something in a language I couldn't understand. Lightning seemed to form between his clasped palms and shoot out in every direction. The sight was no less than astounding and frightening.

"What is that?"

Kumamon turned to me with hands behind his head. "Its the gate to the digital world. I have to go back now, but I'm giving you a choice. You can either stay here and be picked on by humans like that, or you can come to the digital world after me and see things you could never see in this world. The choice is yours." And with that he turned away from me and walked into the portal.

I looked at the portal and started thinking. _'Should I really go? If the dreams really weren't __dreams then the digimon's world is a very dangerous place. And what about my friends? Chase said that if I didn't fight him then he would go after them. Oh what do I do?' _I looked to the portal as if expecting it to make the decision for me. I nearly jumped when I saw that it was starting to get smaller. "The portal it getting smaller. It must be closing! I have to make a decision!" I looked down at the little red digivice in my hand. _'Tell me what to do. What is the right choice?'_ I wished on the digivice as hard as I could and the symbols on side of it began to glow a brilliant red color. In an instant I knew what I had to do. "If I'm afraid of every little thing then I'll never get any stronger. Ash, Erica, Malcolm, Shelby, I promise I'll come back someday. Until then, take care." I held up the digivice towards the portal and ran into it just an instant before it closed.

The inside of the portal was unlike anything I had ever seen before. All around me I saw flashes of forests and oceans that were more beautiful than anything in my world. I knew only a few seconds had passed by, but for some reason it felt like an unsurmountable amount of time had passed. Eventually my eyes began to grow heavy and I closed them, thinking that maybe it would be for the best if I rested

**...................................................**

**"It's time for you to wake up, Stanley. Wake up and save this world,"** said a voice. It was sweet and very familiar. I slowly opened my eyes and expected to be greeted by the owner of the voice, but instead I looked into a cloud filled sky.

"Where's she go?"

"Where'd who go?"

I turned my head to my left and gazed into the deep drown eyes of Kumamon. Not remembering right away what had just transpired in the last hour or so I rolled away from Kumamon and onto my behind.

To say Kumamon was annoyed would have been an understatement. "Ugh! We've been over this already! Stop acting so surprised to see me! And who exactly were you looking for just now!?"

I opened my mouth to make a retort but looked around first. We were in a vast forest not too different from the trees you would see in a rain forest. "I heard a woman's voice, but i don't see one here. So this is the digital world huh? It doesn't really look any different from my world."

Kumamon sighed and squatted down in front of me. "Shut up stupid. This _is_ the digital world."

I took a breath and sat down slowly, imitating Kumamon. "I'll take your word for it. The air here is way to clean to be from Earth anyway. Now," I looked at Kumamon as seriously as I could, "I want some answers."

He scoffed at me closed his eyes in thought. "Well I guess I did promise to tell you if you came here. To be honest I thought you'd be too much of a weakling to come. I'm slightly surprised. Anyway, we'll start with the dreams first." I sat down fully in Indian style as I focused in oh his story. "Those dreams of yours are actually memories of a war that our world went through centuries ago. They were used to sort of introduce you to the digital world and give you an idea of what you're in for. Those children you saw that were fighting the digimon known as Quetzalmon were your predecessors, the digidestined."

"My predecessors? What do you mean by that?"

He opened his eyes and glared at me with annoyance. "Can you really be that stupid? You're the _new_ digidestined! The reason I appeared in your world and found you was so that I could bring you back here and help you save our digital world!"

I looked around the forest and saw nothing but a peaceful place. "But save it from what? Everything here seems to be perfect."

Kumamon suddenly jumped up and palmed me in the forehead. He grabbed the collar of my shirt and kept me from flying back from the force of his surprising powerful strike. "Digiworld is anything but perfect! Our world is governed by sixteen very powerful digimon, four for each realm of the digital world. Those sixteen were put in charge to keep the digital world in order, to protect the peace. But they suddenly turned against their principles and have become corrupt!"

I winced under his touch and tried to push him away. "I didn't know, alright!? Let go of me!" He growled at me as released his grip and turned away. "What is your problem!? You weren't like this in the dream."

"If you're talking about the dream about me and that SnowAgumon then I'm sorry to tell you that I'm a bit different than I was then. You weren't even supposed to see that dream."

I looked at him as he spoke. He seemed pained and sorrowful. "I won't ask about it, Kumamon. But were you the one that was always waking me up?" I looked at him as he nodded. "Tell me how you did it."

Kumamon smirked and shook his head. "You and your stupid curiosity. Well, you know that the race of monsters on this planet are known as digimon, but what you don't know is that we are not completely flesh and blood. Digimon, short for 'digital monsters', are made from computer data.

I raised my eyebrow in interest. "So this world is like a computer program or something?"

"No, you annoying human. This is an actual world, just like your's, except we are made up of data. I don't know how to explain it better than that. But because of the data inside my body I was able to tap into the electronics of your world, like that thing that makes the loud noise in the morning or that thing you talk to yourself on that somehow answers back."

I took out my cellphone and put it on the ground. "You mean this? This is called a 'phone' and many people in my world have them. When you saw me talking on one that time I was actually talking to another person, not to myself. And about that, what was that strange screeching sound that came out of it whenever I tried to call that strange number?"

"Its was a digital recognizer. It can only be heard by those who are in tune with the digital world's specific wavelength."

Things were starting to make sense, except for one thing. "If that's the case then how come my friend Ashton could hear it too?"

Kumamon's head shot up and he looked genuinely surprised. "You mean that scary human that beat you up this morning? It could hear it?"

I kinda took offense to my friend being called an "it" so I gave Kumamon a little glare. "Yes, _she _heard it. Were other humans besides me not supposed to hear it?"

Kumamon returned my glare with one of his own. "Listen, I don't really know the difference between you humans. All I know is that you were the one I needed. As for the other human hearing the digital recognizer, I know that there are loads of humans that could probably hear it, but I didn't expect for there to be one besides you in the same town. That's all. Anyway," he stood up and dusted his behind off as I did the same, "we should head off now before any malicious digimon show up."

The prospect of moving on to a more suitable location really sounded enticing, but I still had a couple of questions. "Kumamon, how do you know that you're the digimon that's meant to save the digital world?"

He turned his head towards me and hit me with his casual glare. "My adoptive mother is a partner digimon to one of the previous digidestined. After the war with Quetzalmon ended she found me as a baby digimon with that digivice in my mouth. The digivice is the sign of the digidestined."

I took out the digivice and looked at it with a slight frown on my face. "The sign of the digidestined, huh? I have no idea what that means. Hmmm." I thought about the words he had just said for a second.

"Is something wrong with you?" Even though the words were ones of concern, his voice and face held no such emotions.

I looked at him with a disgusted look on my face, which he for some reason copied, and gagged. "This thing was in your mouth! That's so gross!"

The vein in Kumamon's forehead made itself known as it throbbed in anger and annoyance. "WILL YOU GET SERIOUS YOU STUPID HUMAN!?" Kumamon's shout echoed all around the forest, amplified by the vastness off nature. For a second afterwards all that followed was an eerie silence.

"Wow. You sure do have a powerful set of lungs. You could give Erica a run for her money."

"Shut up," the bear digimon said quietly. "I can hear something coming towards us." He tensed up as he focused hard on his hearing, trying to pinpoint what exactly the sound was. After about half a minute I started to hear a faint buzzing noise.

"What is that?"

Kumamon's eyes snapped open in realization. "It's a Kuwagamon! We have to go! Now!" He turned on his heel without so much as another word and bolted through the wood as I quickly followed after.

As we ran through the forest the buzzing sound became louder, tempting us to pick up the pace. "Kumamon, what the heck is a Kuwagamon!?"

Kumamon struggled to find the words as he bobbed and weaved through the trees. "Trouble!"

Looking down for an instant I saw a rather large shadow had surrounded us that looked insect-like in shape. If I were in an anime I more than likely would have sweatdropped at the sight of it. "Um, thanks Kumamon, but I think I can see that now." As I ran with my head down I didn't look ahead to see some upcoming roots sticking out of the ground and tripped on the first one.

"Stop falling, otherwise that thing will catch up to you us, stupid!" I knew Kumamon was in a hurry, but he seemed more annoyed than impatient.

I quickly stood up and began running again, throwing Kumamon the most hate-filled glare I could. "Listen to me you dumb bear! Don't you dare yell at me for falling when you know damn well that I know this forest as well as you do!"

Kumamon looked ahead with wide eyes and slight blush on his cheeks from embarrassment. '_Well he does have a point, I suppose. Heh, I guess he's got a bit of a backbone afterall.'_

I could tell that my angry words had affected the bear monster in some way for I fell a second time, but instead of yelling he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me through the rest of the forest. We ran through the forest full burst, even though I was still being dragged a bit because of Kumamon's _insane _speed, until we reached a clearing. The only thing that was visible in the distance was a river and more trees beyond it.

Kumamon ran over to the river and tried to shove me into it. This idea didn't exactly sit well with me and I made that fact known.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING YOU STUPID BEAR!?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? In order to get to the other side of the forest we have to cross this river! What is the matter with you? Can't you swim?"

I tilted my head towards the sky and rubbed the length of my index finger against the skin right under my nose. The answer was obvious.

"YOU CAN'T SWIM!? YOU'VE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!"

I bowed in disgrace. "I'm sorry."

"I can't believe I got stuck with someone like you for a partner!"

"Well you're not exactly my first choice either. This bowing is hurting my back." As I stood straight up a large figure flew out of the trees and landed on the ground in from of us.

The figure was relatively large in size, comparably twice my size in length and three times my size in width, and looked insectoid in nature. It looked as if it were based off of a stag beetle, only more frightening. It stood on two hind legs as four skinny arms a pair of thin wings protruded from its red exoskeleton. His rather disproportionate and surprisingly angular head sat upon his shoulder at a downward angle, long pincers protruding from the end of his helmet.

**"Kuwagamon, champion level insectoid digimon. Virus attribute. Family: nature spirits. Attacks: Power Guillotine and Scissors Claw."**

A feminine voice came from my hand. I looked at the my glowing red digivice is it showed a holographic version of the information it just voiced. _'so this thing can analyze the data of any digimon I see. This may come in handy.' _"Kumamon, what do we do now?"

Kumamon looked up at the giant beetle with a eerily happy smile as he tightened the straps on his paws and said two words that seemed like the most insane words in the world right now. "We fight."

".......... you're totally serious, aren't you?"

"As serious as a Black-WarGreymon in heat. Now excuse me." He made a motion towards Kuwagamon but was held back my hand latching onto his paw.

"Kumamon, he's like ten times your size. We should keep running."

The afternoon sun came out from behind a cloud as we stood there. The way the sunlight hit Kumamon gave him a majestic glow, almost angelic. "You're scared, I know. But you shouldn't have anything to worry about, because I'm here. So stop crying because you're afraid. I didn't tell you this, but the legends call me the 'bear of power'. So while you may not be strong, I'm strong enough for the two of us. And as your digimon I am bound by undying instinct to protect you, even if I don't exactly like you or if I find you kind of annoying."

His words left me wide-eyed and speechless, and for some odd reason I couldn't bare to keep him from doing what he wanted, even if I knew it would more than likely turn out badly. I could only whisper out four words as the shadows hid my eyes and his paw slipped through my hand. "Be careful, my friend."

For a second he stopped, but then clenched his paws into two tight fists and ran at Kuwagamon with a war cry. As he reached the halfway point he reared his right fist back then punched forward towards Kuwagamon. **"BEAR FIST!!!"** His fist took on a golden glow that rocketed towards Kuwagamon's face, taking on the appearance of a bear's head. As it hit his face he was pushed back slightly, but not enough to knock him off balance.

"You really think that little mosquito bite would hurt me? Well think again, you weak rookie!" Kuwagamon aimed to use a palm thrust against Kumamon, using one of his four arms, but Kumamon slid under it at the last second then quickly jumped off of the ground.

**"FUZZY ROUNDHOUSE!!!" **His leg took on a similar characteristic that his fist had done earlier as he twisted his body around and kicked Kuwagamon's arm away from him. I cheered as Kuwagamon winced slightly in pain, but the red stag beetle was far from being at a disadvantage.

"Your attacks are strong for a rookie, but nothing compared to my power!" He turned his head surprisingly fast, aiming the side of his pincers at Kumamon who had just now landed from his last attack. There was no time for me to warn him as the pincers collided hard with his ribs and sent him skidding across the ground.

Out of concern I started to run over to the scene, but Kumamon's cry stopped me. "Stay back! You'll only be put in danger if you come near me!"

"No, I say we let him come over." came Kuwagamon's voice. We both looked at him with confusion. "He's the one I came to kill anyway."

I backed away a bit as his revelation sent a chill through my spine. But I stopped as I could see Kumamon stand up in the distance.

"Over my dead body you will, you overgrown bug!" He jumped high into the air attempted another kick, this time at the back of Kuwagamon's head, but the insect used his speed to turn around and catch the bear in his pincers.

**"POWER GUILLOTINE!!!" **

Kumamon opened his mouth wide and let out a blood chilling scream of agony as Kuwagamon began to tighten his pincers around Kumamon's body. Just to add insult to injury Kuwagamon made fun of the tortured digimon.

"How's it feel to be split in half!?"

Kumamon closed his eyes and clenched his teeth as the pincers doubled in pressure around his abdomen. "Screw you!"

I watched with horror at the scene before me, unable to do a thing. _'Why does this always __happen!? Why do all these people want to hurt me? Why do others have to get caught up in it? First it was Chase threatening Ashton and Erica. Now it's this overgrown dung beetle killing Kumamon!' _I clenched my eyes shut, unable to watch any longer. _'HOW CAN I BE EXPECTED TO SAVE A WHOLE WORLD IF I CAN'T EVEN SAVE THE BEING THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MY PARTNER!?' _As I thought to myself a single tear fell down my cheek and hit the digivice clenched tightly in my fist. The red device suddenly glowed bright gold and pulled itself free from my hand.

The radiant light caught Kuwagamon's attention as he dropped Kumamon to the ground and backed away because of the brilliance of the light. "What! What is that!?"

The digivice spun in the air in front of my face, but suddenly stopped with the screen pointing directly at Kumamon. A single symbol appeared on the back of it, a strange little thing that looked maybe Japanese. At that moment I felt a slight tingling in the palm of my right hand. Opening it as I pulled up my hand I saw the same symbol glowing bright red on my palm. I looked back and forth between them and wondered what was going on until a voice, the same voice from the digivice, spoke inside my head.

**"You are the key that unlocks the power of the digivice, the power to give your digimon the power it needs to right all wrongs committed in the world. I bestow upon you, the new digidestined, the power of digivolution! Combine the two symbols and have faith in your partner to make him evolve!"**

The voice in my head disappeared and I reared back my right hand. "I have faith in you, Kumamon." My arm thrust forward as the symbol on my palm slapped into the symbol on the digivice. The digivice glowed even brighter as a ball of light gathered and grew in front of the screen and flew to Kumamon, enveloping him in the same golden radiance. The digivice then shot out what looked like an outline of a large, four legged creature around Kumamon as his body left the ground and was lifted up into the air as his eyes shot open.

Kumamon started to grow rapidly and his form contorted to fit the outline. The blue straps on his wrists began to harden and widen, connecting into red gloves over his how growing claws as he got down on all four legs. His brown fur grew longer and took on a more blueish color as the strap that went around his shoulder wrapped itself around his neck and grew into a red, spiked collar. Snow white fur grew over his crescent moon scar and causing it to look like a natural design on his forehead. He raised one mighty claw and slammed it on the ground hard as he let out a mighty roar.

"KUMAMON, DIGIVOLVE TO...............................GRIZZMON!!!"

**You guys don't know how happy I am to have this chapter finished, but it was worth it for the readers. All two of you, but maybe I'll have more readers after this. Next time: the fight between Kuwagamon and the newly digivolved Grizzmon. Also, the legend of the legendary six and the meeting of Kumamon's mysterious mother. On a side note, the digivice looks identical to the digivices from tamers, except instead of a card slot there's a slot for things like battle chips to go into.** **Anyway, be sure to review. Pretty please with a Tokomon on top?**


	6. Friendship

**Hello again my friends and fellow writers. I actually got this done in less than a month. Horray for me!**

**Kumamon: How corny could you possibly be?**

**Me: *snaps head at Kumamon* Where the heck did you come from?**

**Kumamon: I've been here the entire time. You're just too much of an idiot to notice me. You've been slacking in your training again, haven't you?**

**Me: *shakes head vigorously* No, _sensie_, I've just been busy with the whole "how to make Kumamon look like a jerk" thing. **

**Kumamon: *balls his paws into fist and glares at me* HOW TO MAKE KUMAMON LOOK LIKE A WHAT!? WHY YOU CRUMMY LITTLE SON OF A-*gets a hand over his mouth*!**

**Me: Shut up stupid. I've already been talked to once about your mouth by a reader, so control your language. **

**Kumamon: *goes wide-eyed* wait, somebody actually reads this crap? How lucky could you get?**

**Me: *shakes fist at Kumamon* Shut up or die!**

**Kumamon: *smirks* well if you have readers you might want to talk to them now.**

**Me: Good point. *straightens out my suit while Kumamon sweatdrops to the fact that I'm wearing a suit* Well like I was saying, Hello my readers! I hope you all have had a good and productive summer so far. I know I haven't, although I am getting close to this cute blonde.**

**Kumamon: FOCUS ON THE CRUMMY STORY!!!**

**Me: Fine!!! I'd like to thank Broken Angel01 for reviewing again and making a note about Kumamon's use of the word "ass" in the last chapter. For any readers who may have been wondering about that I just wanted to show a bit of bitterness in Kumamon's personality. Anyway, in the last chapter we saw Kumamon in action against a Kuwagamon in the first battle of the story. Why does that give me deja vu? We will now see the battle between Kuwagamon and the newly digivolved Grizzmon in glorious high definition and also a bit of understanding between human and digimon. One last thing, I know I said I would have something about the "legend of the six" and Kumamon's mother on here, but sadly I didn't have enough time to get around to it. But I promise it'll be in the next chapter. So on with the story. Please read and review or Kumamon will not be a happy camper.**

**Kumamon: *cracks knuckles* Damn straight.**

**Me: KUMAMON!!!**

**Kumamon: *covers mouth* I'm sorry.**

**Me: Because you did that I'm gonna make you do the disclaimer.**

**Kumamon: Oh fine!**

**Disclaimer: My baka aniki doesn't own digimon.**

**Me: What did you call me?**

"normal print" somebody is talking

'normal print' quoting while someone is talking

_italisized print_ emphasis on a word

_'italisized print'_ a person's thoughts

"ALL CAPS" somebody is obviously pissed or maybe calling out to somebody

".............." sweatdrop moment

**"bold print" **voice of the digivice

**"BOLD PRINT, ALL CAPS" **an attack

............................ time skip no jutsu

The colossal Grizzly bear glared down the giant insectoid standing before him as I stared in awe at his new appearance. So many changes had befallen him in that instant that if I hadn't just seen it for myself I would have denied to the end of oblivion that that wasn't Kumamon a second ago. Whereas he had been up to my chest while standing on his hind legs before his change he now was up to my shoulder while on all fours. But his body itself appeared to be about as long a standard car; I'm sure that if he were to stand up on his hind legs I would only reach the bottom of his chest. His now bluish fur shimmered in the afternoon sun as the two champion digimon stared each other down. As the wind began to blow his wild mane behind his head billowed like a cape with the colors of white, blue, and a more grayish-blue respectively.

"Kumamon?" I looked from him to the digivice, and finally back to my palm. "Did I do all that?"

The giant grizzly bear looked back at me snarled in annoyance. "My name isn't Kumamon! Thanks to your spirit I've digivolved to the next stage in my evolution. Even so, even when you do something to help you somehow make me annoyed at you." But he turned around to hide the smirk that had suddenly adorned his face. "But in this form you can call me Grizzmon."

The glowing digivice that had allowed him to change suddenly fell into my hand and spoke.

**"Grizzmon, champion level beast digimon. Vaccine attribute. Family: nature spirits. Attacks: Grizzly Slash, Crescent Grizzly Slash, Shock Collar, and Maul Attack."**

He was certainly much stronger than before , but was his new power enough to beat Kuwagamon? The insect in question suddenly released a sinister laugh.

"Just because you digivolved doesn't mean you're strong enough to beat me. Inside that large body lies the heart of a scared little bear that nobody likes. Isn't that right?"

The large grizzly bear growled in anger as a response and started to stalk towards the still larger insectoid. "Shut up and get ready to be stepped on!" He crouched low to the ground then bolted in Kuwagamon's direction. As he ran for a head on assault I stood on the edge of the river bank, wishing there was more I could do.

Kuwagamon snapped his pincers at Grizzmon as he closed in his opponent, but the newly digivolved champion lurched forward at the last second and speared the beetle in the abdomen, sending them both backwards into the dirt. Upset that he was being bested by a digimon that had just become a champion whereas he had been one for decades filled the stag beetle with animosity. "I won't be beaten by you!"

"Psh. We'll see about that one." Grizzmon opened his powerful looking jaws and latched them around the upper thigh of Kuwagamon's right leg and began to shake him around wildly. **"MAUL ATTACK!!!"** The beetle was sent crashing to the ground by the force of the attack and bounced back up to his feet.

"How dare you make a mockery of me? How dare you!? I will make sure that your data is erased from existence!" He opened his pincers wide and leaped towards Grizzmon. **"POWER GUILLOTINE!!!"** As his pincers got even with Grizzmon's body he snapped them shut. "Haha! How do you like that!?"

"To be honest it's actually very annoying."

"What!?" Kuwagamon watched as Grizzmon caught the pincers in his two gloved claws and kept them from closing any further. The bug tried harder to crush his enemy within them, but his pincers wouldn't advance an inch. "How are you doing this!?"

The grizzly smirked and gave a somewhat charming grin. "Haven't you heard, you crummy bug? I'M THE BEAR OF POWER!!!" With one mighty push he forced the pincers away from him and put Kuwagamon in a total disadvantage.

If Kuwagamon had eyes they would more than likely be wide with terror right now. He pulled himself away from the bear's grip and began to back away. "You're some kind of monster! There's no way you could've beaten me!"

Grizzmon glared at the retreating digimon. "Well you're right, I am a monster. A digital monster!" With that proclamation Grizzmon had so much fire in his eyes that the forest behind him seemed to flicker with heat. The pride that seemed to exude from his proclamation seemed to pierce the very air itself.

Kuwagamon suddenly turned on his heel and started to fly away, but saw me just standing near the bank watching the fight. _'Hmmm, maybe I can't beat that bear. But I can at least finish the mission I was given!' _He released another sinister cackle as he opened his wings and flew towards me instead of flying away. "TIME TO DIE DIGIDESTINED!!!"

Grizzmon suddenly realized what Kuwagamon was trying to do and ran forward to try to stop him. _'Crud! How could I have let him out of my sight? What kind of idiot just stands there and watches a fight instead of hiding when he knows one of them wants to kill him!?'_

I tried to back away, but my foot nearly slipped into the water. I had no choice but to look forward as his loomed towards me.

"MWAHAHAHA!!! DIE!!! **SCISSOR CLAW!!!**" His pincers started to glow as he tilted his head back and shot it back forward.

**"GRIZZLY SLASH!!!"** came a cry from behind Kuwagamon. Grizzmon brought his claws down in an X shape and a golden X erupted from them. The attack rocketed towards Kuwagamon and grew with intensity. A golden grizzly's head emerged from the center of it and roared as it ripped through Kuwagamon's torso before he could reach me. I tensed up as Kuwagamon's pincers landed two inches in front of me, sticking out of the dirt. I peered over the humongous bug at Grizzmon. The digimon in question stood on his hind legs and gave an annoyed shrug.

The insect's body had been cleaved in two from the torso and as a result blood had begun to gush from both ends. I had to turn my eyes away as his body had begun to dissolve into nothingness. "Grizzmon, what's happening to him?" Instead of a body there was now a golden coin lying in the dirt where Kuwagamon had just been. I picked up the coin and looked it over.

"Yo! You need to get away from the river bank. You're way too close," said my partner digimon.

I looked behind me and saw the raging waters churning and churning unmercilessly. "Okay Grizzmon." I started to take a step towards him when the ground where Kuwagamon's pincers had landed gave way. I had no time to jump away as the ground beneath me shifted and threw me into the dangerous waters.

Grizzmon immediately ran over to the bank and looked into the water. "Hey! STANLEY!!!" He began to grow worried and without one thought about how the powerful rapid could harm him he jumped into the river after me.

The water began to swallow me whole and pull me into its depths. There was no time to think, no air to breath as the multiple currents slammed into my body time and time again, forcing the precious air that I had attempted to keep in my lungs out. Even such terror producing behaviors like screaming for help or praying were impossible as I had found that something as simple as thinking was difficult. All hope seemed lost for me. _'I can't believe that I came to this world and I'm not even gonna be killed by one of the monsters. This seems so.........stupid to me. Drowning. This stupid water!' _Thoughts of my friends began to flow through my mind, their faces fluttering in front of my eyes one by one as I finally ran out of breath and the cold depths began to fill me with their essence. _'Malcolm, Erica, Ashton, Shelby, I'm sorry you guys had to deal with a worthless guy like me.' _I managed a smile, just as the water around me began to heat up_._

…_..............................................._

"Wake up, you crummy human!"

_'Wha?"_ I opened my eyes slowly and stared into the brown eyes of Kumamon. "Kumamon? Did you.......save me?" Kumamon had turned back into his smaller form and his fur was somewhat wet, signifying that he had indeed been in the water maybe a little while ago. "How long have I been out?"

The bear had to suppress a smile when he found that I was okay, so he instead gave me his usual glare. "I dove into the river right after you fell in, but I couldn't find you at first. If it weren't for that weird heat wave that you seem to float into I doubt if I would've gotten to you in time. That was a good while ago, maybe one of your human hours."

_'A heat wave? What is he talking about?' _I raised a hand and felt my clothes. They were nearly dry, but they reeked of growing mildew. "Dude! These clothes stink! What am I gonna do now?"

"Why don't you just take those things off and go around bare? I really don't see the point of those garments anyway."

I blushed as I thought of what he had asked me to do. To do that was absolutely out of the question. I had to quickly change the subject. "So how come you aren't Grizzmon anymore?"

Kumamon gave me his typical glare, but something was different about it. It almost looked like his eyes had somewhat softened. "Digivolving takes a lot of energy to achieve and even more to maintain it over long periods of time. Don't worry though, it's not a one time thing." His mouth twitched a bit as he saw me sigh. "I'm guess you're happy about that."

I chuckled lightly as I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, I am. For some reason I get the feeling that as long as I'm here we're gonna be facing a lot of digimon like Kuwagamon."

…......................................

After my clothes dried up all the way we began to walk through the forest since when Kumamon had pulled me to the opposite side of the river when he dragged me out of the raging waters. Neither of us said a word, causing an awkward silence. I held my bears hat in my hands as I had had it on all through the battle and my unfortunate incident in the river. Somehow it had stayed securely on my head. Earlier I had begun to think about how Kumamon had protected me from Kuwagamon and how Kuwagamon had called him a scared little bear before. _'For some reason I get the feeling that he's been through a lot. Now that I know that he's real I feel really bad because of what i had seen in my dream. I mean, he was nearly killed for believe that I existed. It's my fault if he's face any other hardships like that. I'm gonna make it up to him.' _"Um, Kumamon."

"Yeah?" said the bear without turning around.

I fingered the front of my had nervously before I suddenly laid it backwards on Kumamon's head.

He immediately turned around and shoved me. "What's the big idea!?"

Getting up and dusting myself off I pointed to my forehead. "Your scar." I slowly walked forward as Kumamon growled at me. "I know you got that from that SnowAgumon and its kind of my fault that he did that to you. That hat is very special to me and I only take it out when I need some luck. In fact I never even let people touch it. But I'm gonna give it to you to cover the scars of your past, so you can have better future. It's a proof of our friendship." His eyes widened for a split second, but he surprised me by snapping his body in the direction we were heading in and sniffing a little harder than necessary. "Kumamon, are you crying?"

He snapped his head back and scowled. "Psh. Who would cry over a crummy present like this? The reason I turned around was because that stupid look on your face was annoying me. Now let's go."

He turned back around and broke out into a slow run.

I smiled softly to myself as I began to follow after, thoughts of his face on my mind. _'Kumamon, your eyes were red when you looked at me. Despite what you want me to believe, you were crying. You may not want to tell me what happened back then, but let's become friends who trust each other. I finally recognized that look of yours, the look of one who has a large burden on his heart and no friends to help carry it. I saw that when you digivolved, for I felt a slight connection with you then.' _I looked up with a determined look on my face as I caught up with my partner digimon. _'This adventure might be just what I needed to become brave enough to handle the problems back home. Besides, I get the feeling that things about to get really interesting.' _

**Well I will admit that that may not have been the best chapter, like I say in every chapter, but I got done with what needed to get done. I betcha none of you thought I would actually have a backstory for Kumamon/Bearmon's hat, but I did. I'm so smart! Next chapter we see Kumamon's home and the reason he's such a grumpy bear. Also the legend of the six digimon. I promise, so give me some feedback. I'll even take constructive critism.**


	7. Legends

**Howdy, everyone. Hope you've all had an interesting summer break so far. Anywho, I welcome you all to chapter 7, where we will dive a bit into Kumamon's personal life and see what kind of treatment he went through to become the mon he is today. Thank you, Catching Rain, for giving me that nice review about Kumamon's reaction from the hat. Hmmm, I don't really have much to say on here today. That's odd.**

**Kumamon: That's because you an idiot, but you do have a nice hat. Or HAD a nice hat.**

**Me: What are you doing here? I'm way too sleepy for this right now, so go away.**

**Kumamon: *pouts* Is that any way to talk to your partner digimon? I thought we were friends.**

**Me: My My. Aren't we acting out of character today.**

**Kumamon: Well thats because you made me a bit nicer. And for that I am going to willingly do your disclaimer for you.**

**Me: Really? Well thank you, Kumamon.**

**Disclaimer: You should know that my idiot partner is waaaay too incompitent to ever own the digimon franchise.**

"normal print" somebody is talking

'normal print' quoting while someone is talking

_italisized print_ emphasis on a word

_'italisized print'_ a person's thoughts

"ALL CAPS" somebody is obviously pissed or maybe calling out to somebody

".............." sweatdrop moment

**"bold print" **voice of the digivice

**"BOLD PRINT, ALL CAPS" **an attack or fable

............................ time skip no jutsu

I flipped the coin that had been left in Kuwagamon's place in my hand as we continued our walk through the forest. "So what happened to Kuwagamon? There was nothing left of him but this coin."

Kumamon gave an exasperated sigh."Must I tell you everything? Listen now, because I'm only gonna say this once. When digimon are killed our bodies dissolve until there is nothing but that coin left," he continued to talk as I played with it. It was fairly large for a coin, a little bigger than a fifty cent piece. "The coin is actually a chip that contains all the data of the fallen digimon, thus they carry that digimon's crest." I looked on it and indeed I saw an emblem of pincers that looked an awful lot like Kuwagamon's. "I heard that some digimon use these to make themselves stronger."

"How can such a little chip give a digimon more power?"

"Crummy humans. Always underestimating what's smaller than you. By consuming the chip a digimon has access to some of the attacks and abilities of the chip's owner for a short period of time. I've actually defeated some digimon before, but I've never consumed a chip."

"Oh," I said as we continued forward.

The direction we were headed in seemed way to straight to be random, so I came to the conclusion that we were headed for a specific destination. "Hey, Kumamon, where exactly are we going?"

"Well I've found you and brought you here, so now I have to do some research on something. And to do that we have to go to my village."

I remembered SnowAgumon mentioning something about Kumamon's village in the dream I had. "So what's your village called?"

My partner digimon craned his head back a bit as he walked. "It's called Paper Town. And don't you dare laugh. It's called that because of the massive library that lies in the center of it, a library with the most extensive selection of books in all of Digiworld. And also," I saw his eyes twinkle mischievously as he licked his lips, "the digital world's most delicious food." I was expecting a sinister laugh to go with it, but fortunately, Kumamon had already turned back into his brooding self. "Too bad that's all the town has going for it." The bitterness in his voice put a frown on my face.

"You sound like you really don't like your village all that much."

"That's because I don't. I nearly despise the community. Bunch of ignorant jerks."

Thoughts of him not having any friends to help him carry his burden again clouded my mind. I had thought it better before to not ask him about his friends, but now my curiosity had gotten the better of me and I had to confirm my beliefs.

"You don't have any friends, do you, Kumamon?"

He suddenly stopped and turned to glare at me. "Who needs em?" Then he started walking again at a much faster pace. I had to power walk just to catch up with him.

"Why don't you have any friends?"

"Well I'm not exactly the friendliest digimon, but you already knew that didn't you? Besides, it's not like I'm completely alone. I've got mom and Baamon."

For the hundredth time, the dream of Kumamon came flooding back into my mind. It seemed that the more answers I got the more questions seemed to pop up.

"Kumamon, is your mom one of the ones that fought Quetzalmon? Because I don't remember seeing a bear digimon in that group.

"She's my adoptive mother. She found me as a digi-egg and raised me after I hatched. When she saw the digivice in my mouth she knew I would be part of the next group of digidestined. Only problem is that nobody in my village has seen a human in so long they don't believe they exist. At least not anymore. I was taught to believe in the strength of humans so the older digimon shun me and tell the younger ones not to associate with me. The only digimon who actually care about me are my mother, who was partner to a girl named Kari Kamiya, and Baamon, who is the oldest digimon in the village and was close to the last team of digidestined."

That name was odd to me, I had never heard of it before. "Kamiya, huh? That sounds like it could be Japanese. What is it with the Japanese references these days?"

"The previous team of digidestined were all from Japan, at least that what mother and Baamon tell me."

"So do the younger digimon treat you like Chase and his buddies treat me?"

"Psh. Unlike some people, I actually know how to fight back."

At his snide remark I puffed my lips and jumped on his back. "I can't believe you would make fun of me like that you stupid bear!"

Kumamon got on all fours and tried to buck me off of him, which was a feat remarkable in itself because of his size, but no matter how hard he tried I couldn't let go. "Let go of me, you crummy human! You're way too big for this!"

"Apologize then!"

"Screw you!" He continued to run with me on his back down the path, towards an upcoming downward hill.

"Kumamon! Stop or we'll go flying down that hill!" My warning came too late as we went flying over the hill tumbled to the ground below. As soon as our bodies stopped we slowly got up and dusted ourselves off.

"Good job, stupid. Now we're all dusty!"

I finished dusting off the back of my pants and glared at my digimon. "Well you shouldn't have said that about me. Besides, with all that wild running of your's we got out of the forest faster." I looked ahead, towards the direction we were previously traveling in and saw a big gate. "Hey, what is that?"

Kumamon looked ahead towards the gate and gave a bittersweet smile. "That's the gate that surrounds my village, Paper Town. I was kinda hoping that it would take us a bit longer to get here, but I suppose the sooner we got here the sooner we could find out what my mother was going to tell us so we can leave."

I looked at Kumamon and gave a small smile. "Come on. How can they make fun of you now for believing in humans if you've got one walking beside you?"

Kumamon turned his head to look at me with his mouth slightly agape. "Why did you wait til now to say something that doesn't make you sound stupid?"

…................................

"Anything outside the eastern gate, Sukamon?" said a little pink mouse looking digimon sitting atop a yellow, uh, _spiral_ shaped digimon.

The two of them sat atop a fairly large tower set right behind the gate on the eastern side of the village as the yellow digimon looked over the edge of the tower towards the edge of the forest at two figures that had just rolled down a hill. "Yeah, Chuumon. I got two figures coming out of Paper Forest that should be coming up on the gate in a few seconds."

They both watch for a bit as the two figures came steadily closer until they're identities could be made out, one of their identities anyway.

"Geez, it's just that _human lover_, Kumamon. Do we really have to let him in, Sukamon? I mean, he's so weird."

"You know the rules, Chuumon. Baamon says that she will mercilessly beat any digimon that doesn't let another digimon in with her cane, even worse if it's the bear that we don't let in. But take a look at that other digimon with the strange garments on. Have you ever seen a digimon like that before?"

"What? Lemme see." Chuumon climbed on top of Sukamon's head and peered down to the front of the gate. "Wow, what a weird looking digimon. Dark skin and really short, black hair just on top of his head."

"I don't know about you, Chuumon, but I'm gonna let the kid in. Maybe this new digimon he's with will be of use to the village." Sukamon dropped a hand and pulled down a lever that controlled the eastern gates.

….....................................

"Hey, Kumamon. The gates are opening. Let's go in."

Kumamon looked at the gates and put a paw to his chin. "Hmmmm, usually the jerks at the gate are reluctant to let me in. Old Baamon must have hit them with the cane extra hard today. Alright, lets go."

As we entered the still opening gates we immediately came under the gaze of dozens of different digimon. "Um, Kumamon? What are they staring at us like that?"

Indeed, most of the digimon gave Kumamon hate filled glares as they went about their business. The looks they gave me, on the other hand, were those of curiosity and interest.

"Ignore them for the time being. The only thing we need to concern ourselves with is getting to the library where my mother is. Let's go."

As we began to walk I looked in both directions to the faces of the village's inhabitants. There were so many different digimon and yet my digivice got data on each and every one of them. Some of the ones I heard it list were Koromon, Tucanmon, Sukamon, Chuumon, Gekomon, Otamamon, and several others. I heard them all snickering and whispering to each other as we passed and with each one I could hear Kumamon growl with growing intensity. "Kumamon?" I said worriedly.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine." At that moment a turtle digimon about Kumamon's size with an army hat on its head and some kind of compartment in his belly with a ball inside it walked by and kicked dust in Kumamon face. The turtle digimon reared back and began to laugh in glee. Kumamon wasn't happy in the slightest. "Kamemon! You have no clue what you just did!"

Kamemon laughed even harder as other digimon began to join in on his laugh. "Oh really? And just what is human loving Kumamon gonna do about it? You gonna call that Stanley guy here so you can prove us wrong!? Yeah right!"

Kumamon looked from Kamemon to the other digimon as he fell to his knees in tears, their laughing digging into him like a jagged knife. Then he suddenly stopped as he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't listen to them, Kumamon. Remember, as long as I'm here nothing they say about you is true. Just me being here is proving them wrong. So i'm gonna do something for my new friend." i stood straight up as the digimon's laughter grew in intensity. "Is there a law about digimon from this village fighting each other or something?" came my voice. Kumamon looked up at me with red eyes.

The digimon stopped their laughing and looked at me with the same curious expressions that the other digimon of the village had given me. "Yes, there's a law that digimon from this village can't fight each other." said Kamemon. "But there's not a law about us fighting digimon from other villages, you ugly digimon."

I growled a bit myself as I cracked my knuckles. "Fine then. Let's see what you got, you ugly turtle. I'll fight you on Kumamon's behalf."

Kamemon looked at me with an insane look on his face. "So you're a new friend of his. Heh, the fact that any digimon would be stupid enough to make friends with this little waste of data really ticks me off. Now I REALLY wanna pound you into data." He tucked his arms to his sides and faced me.

"Fine then. Give me one second though." I knelt down to Kumamon and patted him on top of his head. "I see what you've been going through here. Don't worry. I'll kick his butt."

"You idiot! A rookie digimon may not be able to kill a human," he whispered. "But they could still probably hurt you pretty badly. Why are you doing this?"

I looked at him and gave him a big smile. "Because you're my friend and I always stand up for my friends if I win or not, even if it's against a guy like Chase. You saw that much, didn't you?"

Kumamon closed his tear filled eyes and smirked. "You really are an idiot, but I guess that's one thing we have in common." He quickly stood up and put his paw on my shoulder. "I'm sure you can take him, with my coaching of course. Your martial arts training starts now." He then stood in front of the crowd to give me directions, the taunts of the crowd no longer affecting him in the slightest. "First thing's first, due to your size you have a longer reach than he does. Most of his attacks are close ranged so you should have a decent advantage in that area.

I nodded and turned to face Kamemon. "Alrighty then. You ready, you ugly reptile?"

He nodded and then he suddenly ran at me without warning. I raised my leg up and he ran right into it, stopping him in his tracks. He pushed against my foot as hard as he could but couldn't get any closer to me.

**"POINTER ARROW!!!"** He bent his head down as a secret compartment on his helmet opened up and a green, arrow shaped missile fired out at me.

"What!?" I quickly fell backwards onto my rear as the spear narrowly missed me. "Kumamon, I thought you said I would have an advantage!"

Kamemon snickered. "Yeah, like that trash could ever help you win. **"POINTER ARROW!!!"** He bent his head down for a second attack as Kumamon finally gave me more instructions.

"Move to your left one step and bend your right arm outwards with you hand open and fingers against your side. Count to five then close your hand." I nodded at Kumamon and did as he said.

The missile shot at me as I counted. _'1...2...3...4...5' _I closed my hand and felt it go around the stem of the missile. There was a bit of a tug from the momentum but it I quickly secured it in my hand. Kumamon clapped as I looked at my hand in awe. "I actually did it."

"Good, now you have something to counter his long range arrows with. Now, go on the offensive!"

"Gotcha!" I ran at Kamemon and gave him a forearm strike to the temple. He staggered backwards but stayed on his feet.

**"POINTER ARROW!!!"**

"Middle block!" I turned my arm outwards as his next arrow flew at my head and was blocked my his previous arrow that was sitting in my hand. With Kumamon's help I actually had a chance to win. I ran up and pulled my leg back to perform a driving knee smash to his body.

**"CORA GUARD!!!" **He suddenly tucked himself into his shell as my knee hit it hard and bounced off. Surprised, I stopped my attack and looked at the shell curiously.

"DON'T DO THAT, YOU IDIOT!!!" Kumamon's cry came to late as a yell came from within the shell.

**"CORA ATTACK!!!" **Kamemon's helmeted head shot out of the shell and collided with my gut, sending me flying backwards and crashing into the ground. As I slowly got up holding my stomach Kamemon's gloating laughter filled the air. "See? I knew you were no challenge. Figures that the only friend Kumamon could get would be such a weakling!"

Kumamon growled and looked at me. "Listen! Don't listen to a word that guy- huh? What are you doing?"

I had gotten on all fours and began to growl at Kamemon, much like a wolf would growl at something invading it's territory. "Don't worry, Kumamon. I got this under control. Trust me."

Kumamon bit his lip but nodded. "You finally got me to have a positive perspective on you. Don't disappoint me."

Kamemon didn't like being ignored and liked plotting even less. "That's it! I'm gonna finish this off now, you weird looking digimon!" He got down on all fours as well and the ball in his belly pushed him up as he began to roll on it towards me. Now that he was on his back, he looked exactly like a computer mouse with limbs. **"MET KNUCKLE!!!" **He started to roll at me with great speed as I ran at him as fast I could on all fours. It was a game of chicken and neither one of us was about to veer off. "I got you now!"

"Like hell you do!" I jumped off the ground and twisted myself around so that I was right over Kamemon. I grabbed the edge of his shell and brought both of my knees down on it as hard as I could. I quickly jumped off as Kamemon howled in pain and lost his balance, sending him rolling into a tree.

The crowd went silent as I slowly walked over to Kamemon and helped him off of the ground. "Are you alright? I didn't mean to send you flying into a free like that."

I held out a hand for Kamemon to take but he shrugged it away. "Why are you trying to help me when I lost? You didn't even use one attack while I used all of mine."

"There's probably a good reason for that."

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, where I'm from it's supposed to be customary to help anyone in need, although anybody rarely looks out for anybody other than themselves anymore. I'm one of the few that still does. So try not to make fun of Kumamon anymore. Believe it or not, he's actually very strong, despite the fact that he believes in human," I said with a wink.

Kumamon smirked brightly as he walked over to us. "Nicely done. You surprised me."

I shyly rubbed the back of my head. "Thanks, but I only did it because I had a friend that needed help. So let's say we go to that library now?"

He nodded and we started heading towards the library as Kamemon shouted to me.

"HEY! WHAT'S YOUR NAME!? WHAT 'MON' ARE YOU!?

I turned around and smiled big and brightly. "MY NAME IS STANLEY!!!" Then I continued towards the library with Kumamon as the all the digimon's eyes went wide and they're mouths dropped, mainly Kamemon's.

"Stanley? He's actually real. And he beat me?" He looked in the direction we had left in and gave a sad smile. "I've got a lot of apologizing to do."

…............................................................

We stopped in front of a very large building, easily the size of a small university. I looked up at it in awe. "There is no way that this is the library. Its bigger than any building in my town." We walked up to the twenty foot high wooden doors as Kumamon spoke.

"This is definitely the library. I would know considering I grew up here," he said as he pushed the doors inward.

The inside was even more surprising than the outside. Thousands upon thousands of bookshelves, each one about a hundred feet high, lined every inch of every wall. We walked up to a desk and Kumamon called out.

"Mom! Are you around!?"

"Yes, I'm right here," came a female voice. From behind the desk came the oddest looking digimon I had seen all day, and yet she had a aura of beauty about her. An elegant, sphinx-like digimon with big, white wings.

**"Nefertimon, champion level armor digimon. Vaccine attribute. Family: virus busters. Attacks: Rosetta Stone, Queen's Paw, Cat's Eye Beam."**

"Wow, she's beautiful. Are you sure she's your mother, Kumamon?"

"Shut it, you!"

Nefertimon laughed at our antics as I stowed the digivice away back in my pocket. "Wow. He reminds me of Davis. Always so funny. Wait." she walked up on her four legs and got a closer look through her Egyptian looking mask. "Are you a human?" I nodded as she turned to Kumamon. "So you finally found out how to reach him. I guess its time I finally tell you where to find the legend so that you may start your journey. Look for "Path of the Chosen". You know where it is. I'll be outside by the village hall if you need me for anything."

"Wait Nefertimon! Before you go I need to ask you about something." I walked up to her and showed her a mark on my hand, the same mark that had appeared when the digivice first made Kumamon digivolve. "Do you know what this symbol means?"

Nefertimon looked at the symbol closely and nodded. "I know that symbol very well from my time in Japan. That symbol is the kanji for fire." And with that she left Kumamon and I to look for whatever that thing was as she exited the doors.

I looked at the symbol on my wrist with new interest. "Fire? I wonder why that particular symbol is on my hand and my digivice. Anyway, so what is it exactly that she wants us to find?"

"A book that explains the history of all the digital world. It tells about how the digital world was created, the two great wars, and about a legend that was told after Quetzalmon's defeat at the hands of my mother and the last group of digidestined."

We began to explore the library until we reached a bookshelf near the middle of the building, with a large ladder leaning against it.

"It's up here, Stupid. Follow me." Kumamon started to climb the ladder and I followed. He stopped near the very top and took a book out of the shelf. I just happened to look down, only to see that the ground was about eighty feet below me.

"Oh man!" I shouted as I suddenly glued myself to the ladder for dear life.

"What's the matter with you?"

"What's wrong with me!? Are you joking!? I just came to the realization that I will DIE if I fall off of this ladder!"

"Fine. I'll find this stuff quickly so that you don't wet yourself." He started to flip through the pages as I stuck my tongue out at him, then stopped. "I found it. Wanna read?" he asked as he started to hand the book to me.

"Now way! I'm not moving an inch! Read it out loud?" I said as Kumamon snatched the book back.

"Okay then. I really don't think that the stuff about the wars is actually important so I'll just read about the legend that concerns us." he said as he started to read.

**"EONS AFTER THE FALL OF THE GREAT SNAKE GOD THE APPARENT PROTECTORS OF THE DIGITAL WORLD WILL REBEL AGAINST THE PRINCIPLES THAT THEY ONCE STOOD FOR. THEY WILL BRING DISTRUCTION UPON THE DIGITAL WORLD AND ENSLAVE ITS PEOPLE. BUT A HUMAN BOY WILL COME AND SEARCH OUT SIX DIGIMON OF MAGNIFICIENT STRENGTH AND VIRTURE. THE BEAR OF POWER, THE DINOSAUR OF VIRTUE, THE FELINE OF JUSTICE, THE PRIMATE OF PURITY, THE PHOENIX OF WISDOM, AND THE ROBIN OF KNOWLEDGE. THE BOY WILL HAVE THE POWER TO UNIFY THE HEARTS OF THOSE HE MEETS AND THE FLAMES OF HIS SOUL WILL GIVE HIM THE STRENGTH TO BURN AWAY ANY EVIL. THE BOY MUST UNIFY HUMAN AND DIGIMON TO BRING PEACE BACK TO THE DIGITAL WORLD."**

"Well that was confusing, but I know why you've been calling yourself the 'bear of power' now. But s_ix _digimon? Then how come you're the only one I've got then?"

Kumamon grimaced. "I'm not sure. Maybe we're supposed to find them ourselves. Maybe we could as old Baa-!"

We finished reading the fable just as a loud sound of an explosion filled the air, followed by many screams. "Kumamon, what was that?"

Kumamon didn't respond, for he had just climbed higher up the ladder. "Stanley, I want you to get out Kuwagamon's data chip and insert it into the slot on the side of the digivice. It should give me his wings or something."

I carefully dug into my pocket for the chip and pulled it out. "Alright. Here goes." I found the slot on the side of the digivice and slid the chip inside it. Instantly a pair of angel wings appeared on Kumamon's back.

"What the heck? These aren't Kuwagamon's wings!"

I looked at Kumamon with a blank expression. "I think I'd much more prefer those then bug wings. Wouldn't you?"

"Uh, you've got a point there. Maybe it just gives me the power of flight and not Kuwagamon's wings themselves. Anyway, let's go." He slowly floated down and grabbed my hand then suddenly soared down the hallway and out of the door into a town lit ablaze. "What in the world happened here?"

I grimaced as I looked at all the village huts burning to the ground. "I don't know Kumamon, but I have a strange feeling that something bad is gonna happen."

**Me: Kumamon, what the heck was with that disclaimer?**

**Kumamon: Psh. You really thought I was gonna be all cuddly with you this early in the game? No way! Now say bye to your readers.**

**Me: I swear I hate you. Well I hope that you all really enjoyed this chapter. Next time I'll try to do two updates at once since I'll be going on a mission trip the week after next and won't have time to do one. Also, everybody please pray that I don't fall off a roof or something, cause I am EXTREMELY clumbsy I had a really bad accident happen when I went last year. Anyway, thanks for reading. Send me reviews, they'll help me become a better writer.**


	8. Flames

**Hello all! I know I promised a double update, but I've been busy with packing, meetings, and a lot of other crap. On a more positive note, I may actually have a bit of free time while I'm gone to do the chapter that was supposed to be done next week, so everything shall still be on schedule. I'm also gonna try to get Malcolm to help me a bit as I'm supposed to help him on his fanfic. That's right, the same Malcolm that is my best friend in this story. He's my best friend in real life as well, as are all the human characters in this story except for Chase. I got a bit of advice from a reader that a lot of you may not be reading because it's self insert. Well I will admit that I have read some really bad self-inserts myself, but you should give this a chance. I promise it doesn't suck. Much. For another note, in this chapter I do something that no digidestined has ever done before without actually turning into a digimon. "I'm talking to you, Tekuya from digimon frontier." Also note that the disembodied fire bird later in the chapter talks like Silverbolt from Beast Wars, theme music and all. Anyway, I'm gonna turn the mic over to Kumamon. **

**Kumamon: *singing* "And when you left me, I saw a bit of myself leave with you. You were my shining star, my guiding light, and my home away from home."**

**Me: 0.0 Oh. My. God.**

**Kumamon:*turns around and jumps* WHERE THE HECK DID YOU COME FROM!? I SWEAR I CAN EXPLAIN!!!**

**Me: ...................... I'm dreaming. When I wake you'll still be your normal, brooding self. Not singing sad love songs that sound like I wrote them.**

**Kumamon: Let me just go ahead and do the disclaimer.**

**Me: Yeah, you do that. *curls into a ball and sucks on my thump* I have finally lost my mind.**

**Disclaimer: If you all just forget you ever heard me singing then I'll make it so that Stanley never owns digimon, just like he doesn't own it now.**

All throughout the village, screams of fear and terror echoed into the air. Every hut within eyesight had either been burned to the ground or was very close to it. Some of the better conditioned huts had holes in their roofs, signifying that maybe something had been shot through them.

"Kumamon, are you seeing this?" I asked wide eyed at all the devastation. He didn't answer so I looked at him. He had his head down and paws clenched into two tight fists, growling like the bear he personified. "Kumamon, you must be sad to see your home in such a state even though you hate it." _'Maybe he cares more for this place than he let on.'_

He suddenly raised his head and a fist at the same time, a forked tongue slithering in the air like a snake as his face gave a demonic open-mouthed smile. "I WAS GONNA BE THE ONE TO BURN THIS VILLAGE TO THE GROUND!!! THE JERK THAT DID THIS WILL DIE!!!" I looked at him with a blank expression as he started to laugh maniacally.

_'I take back what I just said.'_ His laughter began to grow in intensity. "WILL YOU GET SERIOUS HERE!!!" I shouted as I punched the top of his head.

His paws shot to the point of impact and his eyes began to tear up in pain. "Since when could you hit so hard!?"

I didn't open my mouth as I was too surprised that I had actually HURT Kumamon. I looked down to my fist and clenched it. _'Now that I think about it, I really do feel a bit different for some reason. But, more than anything,' _I did my own mental version of the face that Kumamon had just made when he went crazy.'_I finally have a way to shut that stupid bear up!' _I looked up to Kumamon. "Let's not get distracted by something like this. We have to find out what happened." I looked towards the back of the village and examined the area closely. "Kumamon, all the huts in the very back are completely burned to the ground and the fires start to get gradually less intense as they move forward on the huts. Whatever did this is moving towards the center of the village."

Kumamon smirked and cracked his knuckles. "I'm surprised you were able to come up with something like that. Maybe you're not as dumb as you look. Let's go." He lifted off into the air and pulled me up along with him towards the village center.

"Hey! Wha'd you mean by that you stupid bear!?"

As we headed towards the village center, the citizen digimon ran away in terror. Whatever had done this was definitely still in the village. A little further on and we finally saw it, a digimon made completely out of flames.

**"Meramon, champion level flame digimon. Data attribute. Family: nature spirits and nightmare soldiers. Attack: Blaze Blast and River of Flames."**

Meramon had a human shape, but stood about ten feet in height. He cackled madly as he shot fireball after fireball into the village huts and at the citizen digimon. I had seen plenty of digimon since I started having the dreams and even more in my few shorts hours of being in the digital world, but I was not prepared for a flaming giant.

"I can't believe how many different kinds of digimon there are, but we have to stop Meramon!"

Kumamon nodded as he dropped and landed behind a hut whose fire had fizzled out. "Look who's all brave now. We'll get him though." He then looked around the hut, to where Meramon was, only to suddenly come back around and put his paws to his mouth to hold back a yell.

"Kumamon, what's wrong? I whispered. He continued to hold his paw over his mouth and pointed around the hut. I poked my head around and nearly let out a yell myself. Meramon was towering over ten baby digimon.

**"Koromon, in-training baby digimon. Vaccine type. Family: nature spirits Attacks: Bubble Boom."**

Meramon was scaring the Koromon, tormenting them like a bully. I suddenly had a mental image of Chase standing over Shelby like he had done the day before. These two were exactly the same. I started to growl quietly through clenched teeth. "That jerk!"

Kumamon stared at me. "What in the digiworld?"

I turned to Kumamon, my attention temporally shifted from Meramon. "What is it, Kumamon?"

Kumamon suddenly turned away from me. "It's nothing." I snapped my head back to Meramon as Kumamon started to think to himself. _'That was weird. For a second, I could see heat waves flowing out of his body. Must have just been my imagination.'_

"Kumamon!" Kumamon's attention shot back to the Koromon. "We have to lead Meramon away from those Koromon. I have an idea." I leaned down and whispered my plan into Kumamon's ear. He looked up with a "whatever" look on his face.

"I coulda thought of that too, but let's do it."

…........................................................

Meramon continued to spit out small flames as the Koromon were backed into a corner. "Tell me where the digidestined is or I'll torch your little bodies."

The Koromon all turned away to avoid looking into the black eyes of the flaming monolith standing before them, except one brave one. "We're not gonna tell you anything, you stupid poo-head! We were taught that humans didn't exist, but if he did he would kick your butt all the way back to Primary Village!"

"Oh really now? Well how about I meet you there?" Meramon started to close in on the Koromon, his flaming body growing hotter and hotter by the second.

"KUMAMON, NOW!!!"

Kumamon flew out from behind the hut and towards Meramon. "Hey, you tiny ember!" he yelled. Meramon turned his face upward to the bear in the sky. Kumamon laughed at the fire golem. "Ha! How would you like it if I peed you out?" **"RAPID FIRE BEAR FIST!!!"** Kumamon's first started to glow as he thrust it forward and ten bear fists shot out of it at Meramon.

They all hit Meramon, leaving him unharmed, but his attention had shifted to Kumamon. The plan had worked. Kumamon's wings faded and he landed on the ground as Meramon began to come towards him. "Come here, little digimon and I'll show you how big my embers can get!"

"I'd rather not!" Kumamon ran towards the library, where there was more of an open area to fight in, as Meramon gave chase. "Okay, now I can fight you for real." **"BEAR FIST!!!" **The golden bear head shot out of Kumamon's fist and hit Meramon right in the eye, but didn't even make the fire digimon so much as flinch. Kumamon looked from Meramon to his fist and sighed. "This might be a bit harder than I thought."

…...............................................

"Now that Kumamon is taking car of 'pyro giant', I can get those Koromon to safety." I ran out from behind the hut and over the now slightly less afraid Koromon.

"Hey, wasn't that Kumamon? Why would he try to save us?" said one Koromon.

"I don't know, considering we tease him just as much as everyone else does. But maybe he's not as bad as the grown-ups made him out to be." said another.

One more Koromon pipped up. "Now that you mention it, have any of you ever noticed that even though the grown-up digimon say such bad things about him they never sound mad or nothin. Most of em have nice smiles on their faces when they say that if Kumamon's not actually around." The other Koromon agreed in unison.

"Hey. Isn't that that strange looking digimon that was with Kumamon earlier?"

They all looked up to see me standing over them. "Hey, who you callin 'strange lookin'?"

…......................................

I was now carrying all ten Koromon over to where the other digimon were. Four were in my arms, one was sitting on top of my head, and the other five were latched onto a piece of my clothing. They were all crowded in front of what maybe could've been the town hall where Nefertimon was organizing a shelter.

"Everybody inside! I'll make you sure you're all safe. Baamon, if anybody refuses to go in then give them a taste of your cane!" she said to a digimon that looked like hybrid of a scarecrow and an old woman.

"Aye-aye, little missy! You there! Get your tail in the shelter!" I watched as she jumped over the mob of digimon and hit a familiar digimon squarely on the head.

"Ow! I'm going I'm going! I'd rather fight that human again than take another hit from your cane." said Kamemon.

Baamon stopped her relentless attack and stared at Kamemon. "What was that, sonny-boy? You saw a human?"

Kamemon looked around and saw me with the ten Koromon. "Yes! And he's right there, Baamon!" he shouted as he pointed. Baamon looked to where he was pointing and saw me. She called over to Nefertimon and the three of them ran over to me.

"Wow, a real human. I haven't seen one of you in quite some time. Was starting to think you'd never show up, sonny-boy." Baamon pulled me down by my shirt as the all the Koromon jumped out of my arms and of my body and ruffled my hair.

I pulled myself out of her grasp and ran a hand through my hair. "I'm sorry, you guys, but I have to get back to Kumamon. He's fighting Meramon by himself."

"He's doing what?" said Nefertimon. I couldn't really tell because of the mask, but by the sound of her voice I could tell she was worried.

I put a hand on top of her head to calm her. "Don't worry. I'm sure that if I can get him to digivolve again then he'll be more than a match for Meramon."

Kamemon's face shot towards me. "Again? He's digivolved before?"

I nodded. "Yeah, earlier today. Now I have to get back to him before he gets charcoaled."

Baamon swung her cane in a wide ark. "We'll go with you sonny! Creator knows what I'd do if something happened to that child. Jiimon! You stay down here and hold the fort!"

I looked up and saw what looked like a male version of Baamon nod at her. Just as we left the shelter what sounded like a Kumamon's voice could be heard crying out in the distance. We ran towards the direction of the voice to the library only to Kumamon lying face down on the ground with Meramon standing over him.

"KUMAMON!!!" we all cried out. I looked to my right and saw a brick on the ground. I picked it up and threw it at Meramon's head, making contact, but Meramon only scratched his head and looked in my direction.

"Stanley!" Meramon looked behind him to the see Kumamon back on his feet with a familiar glow around his body. My digivice flew out of my pocket and in front of my face with the fire symbol shining in the sunlight. "Stanley, do it!"

I looked to the fire symbol on my palm as Baamon went wide-eyed under the bangs of her gray hair. "That symbol! Could it be?"

"Kumamon, digivolve!" I connected the two symbols by thrusting my palm into the back of the digivice, as I had done before, and Grizzmon's outline shot from the digivice and surrounded Kumamon.

"KUMAMON DIGIVOLVE TO............GRIZZMON!!!" The proud grizzly bear roared at Meramon as Kamemon, Baamon, and Nefertimon gasped.

"Wow, the bear really can digivolve. I'm gonna have to be nicer to him from now on." Kamemon said nervously.

Nefertimon sobbed softly to herself. "Look at him, all grown up and so strong."

Baamon on the other hand was not acting her age, as she was hopping what seemed to be five feet high and screaming her lungs out. "YOU GET UM, YOUNGIN!!! SHOW THEM WHY YOU'RE THE PRIDE OF PAPER TOWN!!!"

Grizzmon, Kamemon, and I all looked towards Baamon and all mouthed, "'Pride of paper town?'" She quickly covered her mouth as if she had said something that she wasn't supposed to say.

Grizzmon ignored her then turned back to Meramon. "Let's see what you got now, you walking forest fire." He darted across the ground and ran head first into Meramon, sending him crashing into a hut. He started to rise from the hut just as Grizzmon ran and jumped into the air. **"GRIZZLY SLASH!!!" **He fired his attack at Meramon, but the fire digimon just dove under it and grabbed Grizzmon by his hind legs, slamming him into the ground.

"Grizzmon!" we all shouted. He was still conscious, but was struggling to get back up. Meramon was walking towards him, a fire ball forming in the palm of him hand. He reared back, ready to throw the ball and end Grizzmon.

**"ROSETTA STONE!!!" **Suddenly, a large, stone tablet came from out of nowhere and hit Meramon squarely in the head. Before anybody could tell heads or tails about what happened Nefertimon ran out in front of Meramon. "LEAVE MY SON ALONE!!!" she bellowed.

Grizzmon saw his mother in front of him and dragged a clawed paw down his face as he sighed. "Aw, mom. Why do you always have to mess with my fights? You're embarrassing me."

Nefertimon chuckled lightly. "Sorry, my little bear. It's part of being a parent. Now, let's see if I can't show you how a legendary digimon really fights." She stared Meramon down and I started to feel something strange, something coming from the two of them.

"This must be what real battle aura feels like. Wait, I've felt this before." I looked down at my hand, the fire mark still glowing strong. And if I wasn't mistaken, glowing stronger by the second. _'This kinda feels like what i sensed from Chase when I first saw him all those years ago. No, that's not exactly it, but very close to it. But I did feel this exact feeling yesterday, when I told him to leave me alone. Only, it wasn't coming from him. It felt more, frantic. Like it were coming from a scared child who instinctively strikes to protect himself, exactly how i felt yesterday. Could I have battle aura?'_ I asked myself.

Nefertimon ran up and started to attack Meramon with her claws, then got up on her hind legs and jabbed Meramon in the face with her front paws. Meramon finally yelled in pain as Nefertimon showed that she was a legendary digimon for a reason. But Meramon wasn't in pain for long.

He brought up a burning leg and kicked Nefertimon in the chin. He then formed a large fireball in his hand and hurled it at her. "**BLAZE BLAST!!!"** The attack hit her squarely in the chest and she was sent flying backwards into the dirt, not moving. Meramon then tucked his arms at his sides and his flames began to grow bigger and bigger. As they did, the feeling that I was getting was growing stronger and stronger**. **My heart began to pound fiercely and the air around me began to heat up.

Baamon and Kamemon had to back away from me to not get burned by the intense heat of the air. "Grandma Baamon, what's happening to him?"

The granny digimon held onto her cane as she had trouble staying up. "I think I may know, but I have to make sure."

**"RIVER OF FLAMES!!!" **Meramon threw his arms out and sent an ocean of flames at Nefertimon. Grizzmon barely had the energy to look up.

"Mom!" he said weakly.

"Nefertimon!" Without realizing how I had done it, I was in suddenly standing between Nefertimon and flaming attack coming towards her. I knew that within a few seconds that I was more than likely going to be burned to a crisp. My friends' faces started to pop into my vision. "Guys, I'm sorry." I threw my arms out and closed my eyes as the ocean of flames rushed over me.

…............................

I saw myself in a white void, surrounded by nothingness. "Where am I?"

**"You are in a realm of understanding. I place neither part of the human or digital world."** came a voice.

I frantically began to look around, trying to find the owner of the voice. "Who said that? Where are you?" Instantly, a bright red light began to glow in front of me. My right palm began to burn slightly and I looked down at it to see the fire symbol still glowing, almost shining. "Is my mark reacting to it?" I reached out and grabbed the light then suddenly let go. The light grew into an enormous blaze, for some odd reason in the shape of a bird. "What in the?"

**"Salutations, digidestined of flames. I feel great mirth in being in your presence, young human. You are more than likely showing great interest in your location."**

"Yeah, that would be correct I guess. So what exactly am I doing here?"

**"You are here to receive something that shall make you unique, even among digidestined. I ****am about to bequeath my flames to you."**

"Nyeh? Bequeath your flames to me? What's that mean?"

The large fire bird suddenly looked at me with bright blue eyes. **"You will find out soon, but for now we must say our farewells."**

I quirked an eyebrow as he said that, wondering why he was sending me away so soon. But then the white void began to grow dim. "Hey! What's going on!?"

The fire bird's glow began to fade as well. **"I have said what I was meant to say. But do not worry, for we shall meet again very soon, my digidestined partner." **And with that, the entire void faded to black.

…...................................

I opened my eyes, expecting to see angels and white clouds. But instead, I saw myself inside a sea of flames. "Oh man! How'd I end up in hell!?" I looked around and saw familiar buildings and figures outside of the flames. "Wait a minute."

I wasn't in hell, I was engulfed in Meramon's River of Flames attack and I wasn't burning at all. In fact, it felt like I was inside a warm blanket. I looked down at my hands to see that the flames were actually being absorbed into them. The last bit of fire vanished into my palms as I clenched my fist, suddenly feeling like I couldn't hold the flames in.

I looked up and shot flames out of the palms of my hands at Meramon. He was hit with so much force he actually screamed in pain and knelt to the ground. Grizzmon's, Baamon's, and Kamemon's eyes were as big as saucers. I ran out, jumped into the air in front of Meramon, flipped backwards, and kicked him high into the air. I landed, jumped up again, and wailed on Meramon with a barrage of fiery punches to the face.

Baamon started jumping up and down again as she laughed her head off. "I was right! The digidestined of fire was called that for a reason. Because legends say that he is able to wield flames like second nature!"

I grabbed Meramon by his leg and my body felt warm, as it seemed to be feeding off of his flames. I spun around and tossed him, watching with glee as he skidded across the ground. He struggled to get up.

"Curse you, human! Where did you get such power!?"

"I don't really know, but as long as I can beat you it doesn't really matter to me." I clenched my fist and Meramon started to cower. Then he looked down.

"If you don't stand down, then I'll kill this digimon!" he shouted. In all of my reckless abandon I had thrown him right next to Nefertimon!

But suddenly, a blue blur shot right in front of Meramon and Nefertimon vanished. I smiled to myself as Grizzmon skidded to a halt beside me with his mother safely within his mouth. He laid her down gently and looked at me. The look on his face would've been terrifying to me, a few minutes ago. Right now I wasn't afraid of anything, the fires of courage swelling within me. Grizzmon looked at Meramon. "You're going down, now!"

Grizzmon ran out and jumped into the air and started to spin forward rapidly as the golden grizzly head appeared in front of his rolling, now glowing ball form. **"CRESCENT GRIZZLY SLASH!!!"**

Meramon put his hands out in front of him, but Grizzmon had gained so much momentum that he just ripped through Meramon's arms and torso, leaving a huge, gapping hole. Meramon bent down in pain then stood back up, just to see me jump into the air.

I twisted in the air and kicked at him. **"BLAZE KICK!!!" **As I kicked, a flaming shockwave shot out of my leg and ripped through Meramon. His upper body split from his lower body, and like Kuwagamon, he faded away and all that was left of him was a data coin. I landed on the ground and picked it up as a blue blur shot past me. I suddenly came to my normal senses again as I turned to see a crowd of digimon huddled in a group. I heard sad sobs and baby digimon crying. "What's going on?"

I ran over and pushed my way through the citizen digimon to see what exactly was happening. Then, in the center of the crowd, I saw Nefertimon. Grizzmon had already reverted back to Kumamon and was now at his mother's side, crying.

"Kumamon, what's going on?" I asked.

He looked up and all I could notice were the tears going down his face. Here was the normally jerky digimon, now so consumed by emotion that it almost made me cry. "That attack she took from Meramon took too much out of her. She isn't gonna make it."

I looked at Nefertimon with watery eyes. She wasn't moving, but she started to speak through her mask. "My little bear, you fought well. I'm sure that you'll do well in your quest." Then she looked to me. "Stanley, you've shown a power today that none of you predecessors before you possessed. You and Kumamon protect each other, for you are partners and will grow to love each other more than you can even imagine. I have already seen change in Kumamon,and for that, I think of you as a second son. Take care, my children." Then, she too started to fade away just like Meramon.

Kumamon immediately began to bawl his eyes out, as did every digimon in the crowd. I suddenly realized that Nefertimon was well respected and a highly adored digimon. "This isn't fair. It really isn't." I shed a tear as I clenched my eyes shut. The tear seemed to fall in slow motion and landed on Nefertimon. At that moment she started to glow with the same golden radiance that usually surrounded my digivice when Kumamon digivolved. The glow began to fade and a yellow, furry ball with big, green eyes and a long tail appeared in Nefertimon's place as a weird looking egg appeared above it, shrank into a ball of golden light, and shot into the screen of my digivice.

Kumamon suddenly stopped crying and looked at the little digimon. "M-mom?" he stuttered.

The little fur ball looked up at him and said, "Wasn't I about to die?" Kumamon grabbed the little digimon and hugged it tightly. Everyone around them stopped crying tears of sorrow and started to cry tears of joy.

Then, the old man digimon from before, Jiimon, ran to the front of the crowd and pointed at me. "Look! It is a human! A human has finally returned to the digital world. Did you see how he absorbed Meramon's flames and then defeated him. And now he's brought our shining star back from the brink of death! Let us praise him and make him our leader!"

Kumamon, his mother, and I looked at Jiimon with blank expressions, but looked dumbfounded when Baamon jumped up and hit him in the head with her cane. "Shut up, you old coot!" I couldn't help but to fall back on behind and laugh harder than I had ever laughed in my life, despite the fact that I now had a strange power over fire to wonder about.

**Wow, that took me a while to do. But that's gotta be my favorite chapter so far. I hope none of you mind the whole "powers" thing, but I wanted to be different. Some of you may also agree that it's not really fair for me to be strong enough to actually beat a digimon that a champion had problems defeated. Well I promise next chapter that that will be explained. **

**Kumamon: *crying* That was the most touching thing I've ever read. **

**Me: What the heck is wrong with you today? Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter and please read and review.**


	9. Home

**Hello my readers! I'm sorry about the late update, but it seems that I had less freetime than I thought I did. On a more positive note, I did make some new friends for once. Unfortunately, Malcolm couldn't come and help me with this because his mom changed his mind about him coming at the last minute. Anyway, this may be my most emotional chapter to date, although some of you may not fell that this is that emotional.**

**Kumamon: Talk about that later, Stanley. You need to tell them that you're going on another trip tomorrow.**

**Me: Shut it! Wait, did you just call me by my name? **

**Kumamon: Nevermind that. Just tell them. You're not even packed yet.**

**Me: Um, okay then. Well I'm supposed to be going on another mission trip tomorrow, this time to North Carolina to a place called Youth in Missions. So if any of you are gonna be there, look me up. I'll be the only black guy there. Anyway, I probably won't have time to post the next chapter, but you can be sure that I'm definitely gonna work on it this time. By the way, does it seem like I'm telling you all too much about my personal life?**

**Kumamon: Maybe a bit, but you're only trying to let your readers get to know you, so it's okay.**

**Me: I guess you're finally warming up to me, huh Kumamon? Would you mind doing the disclaimer for me partner?**

**Kumamon: Sure, Partner.**

**Disclaimer: Stanley Spearman does not own digimon and don't you dare sue him or I'll come to your house and give you a Bear Fist to the face.**

**How was that?**

**Me: Perfect.**

After the battle Kumamon and I were sent by Baamon and Nyaromon, Kumamon's now in-training level mother, to the library for a bit of rest.

"Kumamon, you should really stop pacing. I'm sure we won't have to be here much longer." I said to Kumamon as he practically paced a hole into the library floor.

"Shut up, you. How can you be so calm after what just happened? I mean, aren't you the least bit concerned about your sudden power over fire? I'm not an expert on humans or anything, but I'm pretty sure that they can't do that."

"Well.....I don't really know. I'm actually pretty freaked out and confused. First I blacked out and had some sort of vision about a bird made of flames. He told me then that he was giving me his power over fire. Next thing I know I'm shooting fireballs and beating up monsters that shouldn't even be able to exist in my world. Its pretty safe to say that I'm definitely a bit concerned."

Kumamon put a paw to his chin and pondered. "Maybe that's what the legend meant by the 'flames of your soul'? I have to admit that earlier, when Meramon was questioning the Koromon, I saw slight heat waves coming off of your body. So maybe this isn't as sudden as we think. But what about bringing my mother back from the brink of death?"

"Well phoenixes are supposed to burst into flames when they die and then are reborn from the ashes. Resurrection. Maybe that's what it was."

"Maybe, but I want to know something too. But I feel a bit selfish in wanting to know it."

I looked at Kumamon with a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about, Kumamon?"

He turned to me and got into a fighting stance. "I wanna know how strong you really are. If you were able to stop a digimon that I had trouble with as a champion then you must be way stronger than me in this form and I love a good fight. So how about a spar?"

I waved my arms out in front of me in an attempt to wave him off. "No way! I'm not gonna fight you, Kumamon!" But my cries came too late as he had already charged towards me.

**"FUZZY ROUNDHOUSE!!!"** His glowing leg whipped around towards me, but I caught it and swung him around towards one of the many bookshelves. He bounced off of the bookshelf and propelled himself into the air. "Let's see if you can beat my punch, Stanley!"

I watched as he reared his arm back and prepared to throw as punch when he got close to me, but his last word caught my ear. _'Did he just call me by my name?' _I barely had time to render those thoughts as he was suddenly in front of me. "Fine then." **"BLAZE KICK!!!" **I jumped up and performed my own roundhouse kick but, to my surprise, no flames came out as my foot connected to Kumamon's fist. Despite the lack of flames, the normal kick was still powerful enough to result in a stalemate with Kumamon's punch. We both landed on the ground and looked at one another. "You happy now?" I asked.

"No!" Kumamon growled. "Where was the strength that beat Meramon? I mean that was definitely better that you were in the human world, but it was nowhere near where you were when you were fighting earlier. And What happened to the flames that came with that last kick?"

"I don't know. I was wondering about the flames too. But I was giving a hundred percent!"

"No way! You were only as strong as I am in this form. Why were you so much stronger earlier?"

"I may be able to explain that," came a familiar, elderly voice.

We both turned to see that Baamon and Nyaromon had just entered the library. Baamon was flashing her normal toothless grin, but Nyaromon looked a little less pleased.

"Were you fighting in my library!? What have I told you about destroying my library!?" Nyaromon shouted as Kumamon froze up with eyes clenched shut. I began to snicker at him until I caught some of Nyaromon's wrath as well. "And you, young man! You in just as much trouble as he is. So I wouldn't be laughing if I were you!" I immediately froze like Kumamon.

"Awe, Nyaromon, why don't we leave the youngins be. You were young at one point too." laughed Baamon. "Besides, I need to explain a little of the human's powers to him." Kumamon and I unfroze and sat down in front of Baamon. "Wow, you two are like infant digimon. Anyway, the reason why Stanley was strong enough to beat Meramon was because he absorbed Meramon's flames beforehand. As the digidestined of flames you become stronger when you are around fire. So when you absorb the flames of a digimon much stronger than you you have a exponential, but temporary increase in power. As for why he couldn't produce flames during that attack, my guess is that he hasn't learned to produce his own genuine fire yet. He basically used Meramon's own flames against him in that fight."

Kumamon and I stood up and sat back down at one of the table as the other two followed us. "So I guess that explains why you're only as strong as me. But maybe you'll get stronger in time. Anyway," Kumamon turned to Baamon and Nyaromon. "What the plan for tonight? You said something earlier about a feast, right, Baamon."

The elderly digimon started to chuckle cheerfully. "Yup. That's right sonny. We're gonna celebrate the coming of the digidestined and the miracle of Nyaromon's life being saved."

The mentioned digimon suddenly jumped into Kumamon's arms. "The feast will start in an hour. Be there, Kumamon. I know how you feel about the villagers, but this is important. So will you please come?" she pleaded. Kumamon smiled and nodded, then watched as his mother bounced away with Baamon.

The moment they were out of the door, Kumamon took out two leather sacks and handed me one of them. "We leave right after the feast. You ready?" he asked.

I hoisted the sack over my shoulder and nodded. "I guess, but why do we have to leave so soon? I mean, I've seen how everybody treated you, but we both know they were wrong. I'm proof of that. They have to admit that they were wrong and apologize to you now, so maybe things will be better now and we won't have to leave so soon. Do you really hate this place that much?" I asked.

Then, Kumamon lost it. "Hate it? I DESPISE THIS PLACE!!! FROM THE MOMENT I HATCHED FROM A DIGIEGG, MY LIFE HAD BEEN TORTURE!!! THE ONLY THING I EVER TALKED ABOUT WAS YOU AND THE OLDER DIGIMON JUST LOOKED DOWN TO ME!!! THE YOUNGER DIGIMON DIGIMON AT LEAST TRY TO INTERACT WITH ME AT FIRST, BUT THEY'RE EVENTUALLY LED TO BELIEVE THAT I'M SOME STUPID DIGIMON AND ARE TOLD TO STAY AWAY FROM ME!!! EVENTUALLY EVERYBODY HATED ME!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO GET THE OUT OF HERE!!!" He finally finished fuming and breathed hard.

"I'm sorry Kumamon. I'll give you some time to yourself." I looked at him and then left out of the library to give Kumamon time to himself.

…..............................................

I walked around the outside of the library and kept walking until I reach the city hall and leaned against the stone steps. I started to think about what all Kumamon had said. "And I thought I had it bad back home. At least I had friends to back me up."

"Yup. I suppose we did treat him unfairly, especially me." I looked to the top of the steps and say Kamemon smiling at me. "Hiya, Stanley."

I smiled back at him. "Kamemon, I didn't see you there. Listening to me talk to myself?"

"Yeah, you shouldn't feel bad though. We all ask ourselves questions from time to time. How are you gonna get to know yourself if you don't even talk to yourself about things that bug you? As least that's how I feel right now."

I got up and went to sit beside him. "You must be feeling really bad about how you treated him, huh?"

He tapped his helmet and gave a sad smile. "Yeah, I was the one that gave him the most problems. I would rally the other young digimon to make fun of him and I even made a club devoted to making him miserable. He wouldn't say a word thought. He'd just sit there and take all of it. He'd cry sometimes, or threaten to kill us all. He even went so far once as to destroy our club house. Baamon tanned his hide for doing that, but she also got all of us for being in that club in the first place. Baamon and Jiimon were the only ones besides his mom to ever really take up for him. They never really spoiled him or anything, but they were kind to him none the less. Despite that, he would never smile, and stayed to himself most of the time. He was a loner and that only made us want to pick on him more for embracing his weirdness."

I bit my lip. "I know how that is. Back in my world I'm not exactly the strongest person. I'm bullied by a guy named Chase Lewis. For some reason he torments me constantly. Many of the kids at my school may not think anything bad of me intentionally, but because they're so afraid of Chase that make fun of me too just so that they won't get beat up for being associated with me."

"But as strong as you are you should be able to beat anybody from your world."

"Heh, maybe now I could, but I'm afraid of Chase for different reasons than everybody else is. A few years ago he caused a riot and my best friend at the time got trampled and died. But before that Chase had been about to attack me and he looked like a demon to me. I felt an unbelievable amount of malice coming from him and I've been afraid of him ever since. But the difference between me and Kumamon is that I have the four best friends in the world who refuse to leave my side, even if it means getting picked on sometimes or beat up. Luckily none of them have been beat up. I doubt if anybody could beat them up anyway, even Shelby. The other three are tough, but she's too sweet for anybody but Chase to hurt." I grimaced at my own words and clenched my fists hard.

Kamemon broke the silence by whistling out a pretty note. "Wow, that Chase human sounds way worse than me. But you sound like you have a bit of affection for this Shelby human. Is it special to you?"

"Ugh, Shelby is a _she_, not an _it! _What is it with you digimon and genders?"

"What's gender?"

"Nevermind."

"Anyway, Kumamon was really cold. That is until today when you came along. When you and I fought he had such a un-Kumamonish look on his face. He looked happy and proud. You were his pride for so long, and now you're here with him. You have no idea as to how happy he is. I doubt that any of us do."

I looked up, towards the library that could still be seen in the distance and smiled. "It's funny that you say he's happy. Because all he's done all day is tell me how much I annoy him." We both then broke out into fits of laughter. Then we stopped because we suddenly heard something. "What was that?"

"Sounded like somebody having a conversation. Let's go and listen in." I nodded and we followed the voices to the side of town hall, looking around the corner at two figures. "Those two look kinda familiar," said Kamemon.

I squinted to try and get a better look at them and realized who they were. "Kamemon, that's Baamon and Nyaromon. I wonder what they're talking about."

"Well that's what we're here to find out."

…........................................................

"The two of them will have to leave soon, Nyaromon. You have to be prepared to say goodbye to them," said Baamon.

Nyaromon was blinking every couple of seconds. "I know, but it's still hard for me. And I know that Kumamon must be more than ready to leave. As bad as he's been treated it's hard to imagine him staying for much longer."

Baamon ruffled her old, gray hair and sighed. "We had no choice, Nyaromon. When we found his digitama and the digivice, we knew what it meant. But we couldn't treat him like a prince. He would have gotten big headed and overconfident. Thinking that he was Digiworld's most powerful digimon he would have been killed in his first fight. But, because he was treated badly, he put his aggression into his training and has become strong. But also, because of you, he has a humble side that will now begin to grow because he has what he wanted most in the world. This was all planned out so that he would be strong enough to fight. And you know that every elder in the village thinks of Kumamon as one of their own." Nyaromon nodded and waited as Baamon cleared her throat. "Now it's time we take our leave. The feast is about to start." They stopped talking and began to walk in the direction of Kamemon and I.

…................................................

"Oh crap, Kamemon. They're gonna see us!" I grabbed the turtle digimon by the arm and ran in the direction of the library before the two elder digimon even reached the corner. I let go of Kamemon's arm and stopped to catch my breath. "How the heck did I just do that? That was a good fifteen minute walk, but I just ran it in like fifteen seconds."

Kamemon fell on his butt and panted. "Turtles aren't meant to go fast, and now I see why. But I can't believe what we just heard. Now I see what Baamon meant when she said that he was the pride of paper town in the that battle earlier. But what a horrible thing to do to Kumamon, even if they did think it was for his own good. I'm such a horrible Mon for being caught up in it."

I helped him up and we began to walk up the steps, only to walk into Kumamon. He looked at me and cast a glare at Kamemon. I looked back and forth between the two. Kamemon refused to look at Kumamon and he had his head down in shame. He was really beating himself up. I had to cut the tension. "Ah, sorry Kumamon. You okay now?" I asked.

In response, he shoved one of the leather sacks from earlier into my hands, not saying a word. He headed off towards the village center, leaving Kamemon and I behind. I looked at his back, wondering if he should find out the truth or not. Kamemon seemed to pick up on my feelings.

"As his partner, it's up to you as to whether or not he knows the truth."

"Yeah," I said as I looked down at the ground.

…..............................................

In the center of the town sat a very long table, about a hundred feet long. There were about two hundred seats available for all of the villagers, with Baamon sitting at the head of the table, her being the village elder and all. Kumamon and I were careful to hide the sacks as we each sat down at either side of Nyaromon, with Kamemon sitting beside me.

Baamon stood up and gave her trademark toothless grin and chuckle. "In honor of the arrival of the digidestined and the revival of Nieramon, let the feast begin!" **"HOME COOKED MEAL!!!"**

Suddenly, plates of all sorts of good appeared on all of our plates. All kinds of fruits, meats, and desserts piled onto my plate, looking fantastic. I threw my fork and knife behind me and started to attack a whole roast ham. I laughed as Nyaromon literally dove into a plate of pasta, with many of the Koromon I had saved earlier in the day. Kumamon, Kamemon, and I had a food eating contest, which I had to beg Kumamon to let Kamemon attend. I still say that Kumamon cheated somehow. I had never laughed so hard in my life. Baamon was drinking a goblet of ale, getting a bit woozy and slurring her words a bit.

I took a glance at Kumamon while hiccuping from all the food I had eaten. He looked a bit troubled. Then took a glance at Kamemon, who nodded. I knew Kumamon had finally made up his mind. He stood up slowly and said, "Stanley and I are leaving after the feast."

I started to fell really bad, as no one appeared to care except Baamon, Kamemon, Nyaromon, and myself. Kumamon slammed his fists down on the table, startling everyone. "This must be some kind of joke." He had his head down to where nobody could see his eyes. "I can't believe you digimon. Don't any of you even care at all about me going away? I don't get it. Stanley's here, an actual human. Even then, why don't you admit that you were wrong and take back all the things you all said about me? Do you all hate me that much!?"

"They don't hate you, Kumamon?"

Kumamon looked at me like I was crazy. "What are you talking about? Of course they do!"

"LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE, YOU CRUMMY BEAR!!! THEY DON'T!!!" I yelled as he suddenly cowered. I then old him everything I had heard from Nyaromon and Baamon. Kumamon was shocked to say the least. He sat back down, his paws over his face.

"That can't be. How could they do something like that to me? That just can't be true."

"I'm glad to say that it is indeed true, my son," said Jiimon from out of nowhere.

"Grandpa Jiimon? I don't understand this. Why?" Kumamon looked around to find every elder of village smiling kindly at him.

"It was necessary so that you could become the strong, young digimon you are now. We've never told you so, but we've all secretly watched you train, watched you grow, and now it's time for us to watch you leave to fulfill your destiny."

I looked at Kumamon, who had his eyes closed tightly, tears streaming down his face. Every digimon was crying now. I felt something wet slide down my cheek and realized that I was crying right along with them. Then something started to glow between Kumamon and I.

"NYAROMON DIGIVOLVE TO..............SALAMON!!!" A white, dog looking digimon with a golden collar around it's neck stood where Nyaromon was less than a second before. Cheers started to ring into the night as we all celebrated everything that had just taken place.

…..........................................

Kumamon and I were standing at the village gates as Baamon and Salamon came up and motioned for me to come with them.

"You should head to Pyro City," said Salamon.

"Why and how do I know how to get there?" I asked.

"Around the time Kumamon was found as a digitama, there was another digitama found in Pyro City. Nobody really thought anything of it at first, until it hatched and has been apparently waiting for someone. We think that it may be another one of your partner digimon. And here," Baamon paused as she handed me a map. The moment I touched the map, my digivice began to go off. The map dissolved into my digivice.

"What happened to the map?" I asked.

Salamon looked at my red digivice. "I think it was absorbed. Take out your digivice."

"Okay." I took it out and looked at it. "Great. Now how am I supposed to find Pyro City?" But I soon got my answer, for the moment I spoke a holographic map shot up from the screen of the digivice.

"Wow," said Salamon in awe. "The old digivices sure couldn't do that."

I stowed the digivice back into my pocket and ran back to Kumamon, who was now, surprisingly, talking to Kamemon.

"Kamemon, what are you doing here?" I asked.

Kamemon looked at the ground and laughed. "I came to make peace with Kumamon and to give you something."

I craned my head to the side in interest. "Seriously?"

In response, Kamemon's hands shot out and inside them were a red headband and a pair of what looked like old biker goggles. "I made these for you. Legends say that goggles are a sign of leadership among the digidestined. And they'll fit over your glasses for extra protection."

I carefully took the headband and goggles and put them on my head. "So how do I look, guys?" I asked as I was worried that the red my clash with my blue jeans and regular black t-shirt.

Apparently I had nothing to worry about as the two digimon each gave me a thumbs up and a huge grin.

"That's how my partner is supposed to look," said Kumamon. I blushed in embarrassment and thanked Kamemon for the gifts.

"You ready to go, partner?" I asked. He nodded and we exited the gates of the village, towards the forest. We suddenly stopped, because we heard yelling behind us. We both turned around in confusion. All of the villagers were yelling goodbyes to us, tears once again in their eyes. Kumamon hesitated, then started to wave fiercely.

"GOODBYE, EVERYONE!!! I PROMISE THAT I'LL COME HOME ONE DAY!!!" And with that, we both turned away from Paper Town and entered Paper forest. Our journey had finally begun.

**Kumamon: So our journey has finally begun.**

**Me: Yup. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please review.**


	10. Belittle

**Hello all! It's so good to see all of your wonderful faces again. I hate to say this but, I've been back for over a week now. I'm just a lazy bum. Forgive me.**

**Kumamon: It's okay my friend. We can all be lazy at times, so I wouldn't get mad at you.**

**Me: Um, does it hurt if I said that I actually got this done with in a few hours and was just putting it off and that I've done pretty much all the chapters like that?**

**Kumamon: WHAT!? YOU LAZY BUM!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!**

**Me: Um, Please enjoy this chapter as I run for my life.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Eh, what else is new?**

Half a day had passed since we left Paper Town as Kumamon and I were taking shifts, just in case any rouge digimon showed up. I had already gotten three hours of sleep and I was now keeping watch while Kumamon slept on a pile of leaves.

"Come on dang it!" I said as I struggled to make my own genuine flames. I hadn't had very much luck so far and I was beginning to get stressed out. "Ugh, why won't it work? Stupid fire!" I suddenly punched into the air and a stream of flames erupted from the end of my fist and set the tree in front of me ablaze. The tree toppled over and made a loud crash, waking my partner digimon.

Kumamon looked sleepily at the burning tree, then looked at me. "Hey, stupid! You're more of a danger to us than the sovereign's flunkies are!"

I put my hands behind my back and lied, "I had nothing to do with that."

"Uh-huh. Sure you didn't. What exactly are you trying to do anyway?"

I looked towards my hands and clenched them. "You remember how Baamon said that I couldn't create my own flames yet? Well I decided to try and see if I could make flames through training or something."

"What kind or training was that, you goggle-head? You were practically begging the flames to come out."

"Psh. It worked, didn't it? Anyway, it's time to eat," I said hungrily as I rubbed my stomach.

Kumamon moved his jaw in a way that revealed one of his lower fangs and pulled out his leather sack that was filled with food from Paper Town.

"Alright, Kumamon. Make something good!"

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"Um, I thought that you were gonna cook, Stanley."

"What? I can't cook!"

Kumamon's jaw dropped and he chucked the sack at my head. "Don't you dare even think of saying that! I thought that all humans could cook!"

"Who the heck told you that!?"

Kumamon's lip quivered as he had a mental image of Baamon relaying the story of how well Kari Kamiya could cook and how she learned many recipes from her. "Nobody."

"Wait. I thought that you could cook! Are you telling me that we have all of this food and can't cook it!?

"Okay, let's not panic, Stanley."

"I'M GONNA STARVE TO DEATH OUT HERE!!!" I opened my mouth to scream, but all that came out was a massive flame. I fought to try and control the flames as Kumamon and I both began to panic.

"STANLEY, CLOSE YOUR MOUTH!!!"

Willing to try anything to quell my raging inferno I closed my mouth and instantly the flames stopped.

"Stanley, this is getting crazy. Can't you find a safer way to let out your aggression?"

I opened my mouth slowly to make sure that the flames wouldn't come out again. "This coming from Mr. Aggression? Don't make me laugh you silly bear."

Kumamon grimaced and leaned back against a tree. "Don't you turn this around on me. You've gone through quite the change since you first entered the digital world. I mean I know you weren't exactly frightened but you were still kind of awkward. But now it feels like you've been here for a long time." _'But I wonder. Maybe I feel that way because I've been wanting to journey with him for so long and now I get to. It's the only thing I ever wanted in life.'_

"Well, Kumamon, the reason for that is that I've had so many weird things happen over the past twenty-four hours I don't even get surprised anymore. Besides," I looked up into the tree that he was standing over and pointed. "I have a solution to our little food problems."

"What?" Kumamon looked up and not even a beating from Baamon's infamous cane could rip the smile from his face. "Apples. I got em." He turned around and punched the tree but, to his surprise, no apples fell. "Well, how are we supposed to get those down, genius?" he said sarcastically.

"Like this." I jumped up fifteen feet and kicked the tree. When I landed Kumamon still had a surprised look on his face.

"Since when can you jump that high!?"

I smirked. "It turns out that that phoenix gave me more than just power over fire."

"Whatever. Well your kick still did absolutely nothing," he said as I started to back away from him.

"3........2........1!" At that moment an ocean of apples fell on top of Kumamon. I knelt down and fell to my knees as my laughter made it hard to stand. Kumamon slowly dug his body out of the pile of apples and looked up at me.

"That is so not funny." But his did very little to qualm my laughter.

"Yes it is."

..........................................

After we had gotten our fill of apples and saved the rest in our sacks, we continued to walk through the forest. Unfortunately, the apples had done very little to help Kumamon's annoyance.

"Ugh, so how much longer do we have to walk to find a place to rest?" he asked as we started to climb up a massively large hill.

I looked at the map on the digivice. "The closest town is Mechanized City. It's about three miles from here so at our speed it should take about an hour, but we should be able to see it when we reach the top of this hill."

Indeed, when we got to the top we could see skyscrapers in the distance. "Wow," said Kumamon. "Have you ever seen buildings that big?"

"No, I haven't. I live in a small town too, but I have been to some big cities and none of them compare to those skyscrapers in the distance. That must be the-"

"HELLLLLLLP!!!" came an ear splitting scream.

Kumamon and I both had to cover our ears to keep from going deft. "Who the heck is making that noise!?" shouted Kumamon.

I looked out towards the city, but if there was anything out there it was way too far to see. "Kumamon, I can't see anything."

"Ugh, must I do everything myself?" He reached up and tugged the goggles given to me by Kamemon down my face.

I grunted as I pulled the goggles properly over my glasses. "Kumamon, what are you doing?"

"Listen, stupid. Kamemon told me last night that those goggles aren't just for show. He equipped them with several tools, including scopes to see in far off distances. Use those to see up ahead and see what made that sound."

"Oh, okay then. Let's see if I can make these work." I touched the side of the goggles and my range of vision greatly intensified. It took me back at first, but I quickly got used to it then used them to look on towards Mechanized City. Through my enhanced vision I saw a blue digimon running away from the city and a trail of smoke trailing behind him that didn't look like it was coming from the digimon. "Kumamon, there's somebody running from the city. And it looks like they're being chased by something."

"Well let's not waste any time then. Here." He took something out of his leather sack and thrust it into my hand.

"Um, What are these?" I asked as I rattled what looked like coins in my hand.

"They're data chips. There should be one that has a pair of feet overlapped by wings on it. Use it on me like you did with Kuwagamon's card."

I ruffled through the chips and found the one he was looking for, wondering what kind of digimon he could have gotten this chis from. But that question would have to wait. "Digichip, boost!"

Kumamon quirked as eyebrow as his legs gave off a golden glow. "Digichip, boost? Where'd you get that from?"

"Well it just didn't seem right for some reason to just put the chip in without any kind of declaration. Anyway, what's that chip do?"

Kumamon smirked as he walked up towards the other side of the hill. "Well let's put it this way. Try to keep up."

"If you say so." We both ran down the other side of the hill full burst. As I suspected the chip had given him a vast increase in speed but, even so, I still had no trouble keeping up. It was safe to say that Kumamon was definitely surprised.

"You get more fun by the second. Now let's see what we're up against." As we ran on I looked through the goggles again. Now that we were closer I could now see a glint of metal behind the trail of dusty smoke. I could barely make out a familiar shape. The shape of a mech.

"A mech? You even have these in your world. But I'm not sure we can take something like that down. But let's try something. When we get to the bottom of this hill I want you to launch me."

Kumamon looked at me like I was insane. "Are you insane? Do you know how far you're gonna go if I throw you?"

"Just do it."

"Oh fine! Here we go!" Just as we reached the bottom of the hill Kumamon grabbed my arm and swung me forward, but just as I was beginning to shoot through the air I grabbed Kumamon's arm. "What the heck are you doing!?"

"You're gonna take that thing out." Using the momentum of Kumamon's throw I swung Kumamon out as hard as I could, launching him at the mech with twice the momentum he had used on me.

He screamed as he shot through the air like a torpedo, the wind blowing his cheeks out like a balloon. _"I can't believe that guy would throw me like that. But I have to admit, I never would've thought of this. Well time to see if I can make his plan work. I'll use my new attack!" _Kumamon reared his arm back as he continued to fly through the air, a familiar golden glow forming around it. **"SHOTGUN BEAR FIST!!!"** At the last second he shot his fist out and ripped through the mech like butter, its innards completely obliterated. I ran out to him as he landed on the ground, happy my plan had be successful.

"So how was your flight?" I suddenly cringed as Kumamon looked at with a glare filled with an amazing amount of killer intent.

"You know, you coulda warned me about that little plan of yours. Give me one reason as to why I shouldn't kill you."

I quickly thought. "You got to show off your new attack. It was awesome."

Kumamon suddenly beamed at me. "Awe, really? Thank you so much." He then looked to the wreckage that we had just made. The blue digimon from before was going through it. As we walked up to him the digivice in my pocket went off.

**"Veemon, rookie ancient digimon. Vaccine type. Family: unknown. Attacks: Vee-Head butt, Vee-Knockout, and Vee-Punch."**

Veemon was Kumamon's height with large, maroon eyes and extremely large hands. He had a small horn for a nose and a yellow V on his forehead.

"Um, what are you doing?" I asked. Veemon replied by completely ignoring me. "Man, this is a rude digimon. Kumamon, you try talking to him."

Kumamon nodded and poked the rookie digimon on the shoulder. "Hey! Are you alright?" Veemon then looked up, his eyes going to me and then to Kumamon, his eyes suddenly getting wide.

"Oh mon! You're the-"

"Yes, I'm the digidestined," I said as I reached out to shake Veemon's hand.

"-Bear of Power!" Veemon passed right by me and went straight to Kumamon. "Hi! I'm Veemon!" he said as he vigorously shook Kumamon's hand.

"........" I was confused. "Um, I'm here too. Hello." I said.

Veemon then looked at me again. "Oh, a human. Big deal," he said.

I was being insulted by a digimon wearing a tool belt and covered in oil. "Why, you little tech head!"

Veemon was back at the mech again, and in minutes had made a hovercraft. Kumamon and I were both in awe.

"Yo bro! Look, a hovercraft."

I sputtered as I suddenly acted like it was the lamest thing in the world. "B-big effing deal!" I spat.

...........................................

As we rode the hovercraft towards Mechanized City, Veemon filled us in on the situation. "About three weeks ago, an Agumon showed up all bruised and bloody. He claimed to be the Dinosaur of Virtue, so we let him stay in Mech City, nursing him back to health. But a week later he started to get malicious. Then he suddenly digivolved to Greymon and captured our leader, taking over all of Mech City. Our city is known for our iron ore plants that build mechs. The mechs are built for defense in case anyone comes to our city with evil intentions. But since Greymon has taken over the city he has also taken over all of our mechs and now the citizens have gone into hiding. It's because of this that I need your help, Lord Kumamon."

"Oh sure. Ask the bear for help, but not me," I said with clenched teeth.

Kumamon started to chuckle lightly. "Come on, Stanley. Don't be like that." Veemon looked at me too, but he didn't smile.

"What can he do? He's just some weak human." I suddenly stood up as the hovercraft was moving and quickly fell back down. "See?" said Veemon. I folded my arms and mumbled to myself. We were coming up fast to the walls of the city.

"I'll show you who's weak. Oh yeees. Let's go, Kumamon!" I shouted. Kumamon stood on the edge of the craft and jumped as I slapped my glowing hand into the back of the digivice.

"KUMAMON DIGIVOLVE TO..................GRIZZMON!!!" Grizzmon ran along side the hovercraft as I jumped onto his back and we ran on ahead to the village gates. The gates were made of metal.

I jumped from Grizzmon's back and punched the metal doors down and then landed back on his back as he passed under me. Veemon quickly caught up to us in his hovercraft and I planned to rub my strength in his face. "How do you like me now, Veemon?"

"Do you have any idea as to how long it's gonna take to put those doors back up!" he shouted as he went on ahead of us.

"You. Have got. To be. KIDDING ME!!!"

Grizzmon started laughing and I glared at him.

"That is so not funny, Grizzmon."

"Yes it is."

.............................................

"Hey, Grizzmon. I wonder why Veemon belittles me like he does?" I asked.

"Belittle? What's that mean?"

I looked back to all the times I had been picked on and saw all the people who had looked down on me. "It means to not think much of somebody, to consider them less than what they actually are." I looked down and rubbed his bluish fur. "Kinda like how Kamemon and the others treated you before you found me."

I heard him chuckle and he playfully bucked upwards, bouncing me on his back. "Well, I wouldn't worry about it. Your time will come soon. I can feel it." He stopped as we had reached a very rundown part of the city. All around us were rubble covered streets, torn down buildings, and various robotic parts. "What happened here?"

"This was a battlefield. We have to hurry up and catch up to Veemon." Grizzmon nodded and started moving again, this time we began to hear souns of a new battle. "Grizzmon."

"I know, Stanley. They're in the middle of a battle and there's Veemon. Let's go." We followed Veemon into the deepest part of the city. What we saw there shocked us. There was a fierce battle going on, with digimon being overrun by mechs. Grizzmon skidded to a halt as Veemon drove into a crowd of mechs, running them over. "Stanley, this is pretty bad. You're not strong enough to fight anything this strong yet so I want you to go hide. Okay?"

I pouted at first but I knew that he was probably right. "Okay. But just promise me you'll give em hell."

Grizzmon gave a toothy grin as I jumped off his back. "I'll be back. Now go hide while I go show off." I smiled as he went and entered the fight. Alone, the rebel digimon had only taken out a few mechs, but with Grizzmon now helping, a few dozen were taken out in minutes. Grizzmon jumped onto one mech and started to rip it to shreds with his Maul attack. Then he turned as one tried to sneak up on him. He slashed it in the chest with his claws, sending it flying into ten mechs behind it and as it blew up so did the rest of them. But even thought they had all now destroyed so many, there were still so many left.

I heard someone scream behind me and turned around to see a mech attacking a defenseless peach colored dog digimon. I ran out, my body suddenly heating up and a familiar feeling coursing through my veins. I spun my body as I jumped up towards the mech's face plate and gave it a flaming uppercut, sending it high into the air as it exploded. I looked at my hands and balled them into fist and an aura of flames shot off in all directions. Then I heard something stomping behind me. I turned around to see a giant, orange T-rex with blue stripes and a horned helmet over his head.

**"Greymon, champion level. Type: flame dinosaur. Vaccine type. Family: dragon's roar. Attacks: Nova Blast, Great Horns Bash."**

I looked up into the eyes of the one who had caused all this. "So you're the jerk who caused all this!" I shouted. Greymon gave a low growl.

"And? What are you gonna do about it?"

"How about I show you!" I jumped up and kicked at Greymon. **"BLAZE KICK!!!"** The fiery shock wave hit him right in the abdomen, but had no effect at all. All Greymon did was scratch his belly.

"Hmmm, I wasn't aware that humans had such powers. But your fire is much too weak compared to mine. You stand no chance."

"I'm sick of everybody calling me 'weak'! Take this!" I jumped up and punched Greymon right in the face, but sadly he didn't budge. As I was landing, his tail swung around and sent me flying into a brick wall. I was out cold and Greymon was slowly walking towards my unconscious form.

"I was ordered to keep you alive, so I'll take you as my prisoner."

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!"

Greymon looked behind him, only to see Grizzmon in the air. But Greymon just grabbed Grizzmon by his head and slammed him into the ground, knocking him out cold as well. With nobody to stop him, Greymon hoisted me over his shoulder and carried me away, making me a prisoner.

**Kumamon: I see you a Beast Wars moment there with the yeeees. Anyway, that sucks that you got taken away, but you're a weak human. What could you do?**

**Me: Just you wait. Next chapter I'm gonna blow all your minds!**

**Kumamon: We'll see. Just try to have the next chapter up a bit sooner. **

**Me: Okay. Hope you enjoyed this chapter everyone. Be sure to review.**


	11. Courage

**Ohayo everybody!!! I hope you've all been waiting in suspense I've finally come out with a new chapter and I believe you will all see some familiar faces. I spent my time away watching various Japanese hensei Kamen rider series, such as Den-o and most recently Kiva. If any of you are fans of the shows then maybe I should put a few rider kicks in here. What do you all think?**

**Kumamon: I think you need to focus on the fic and get your head in the game!**

**Me: How dare you? *holds out my digivice and wraps a ruby colored belt around my waist* Henshin!**

**Kumamon: *Cowers as nothing is seen but my shadow* Holy crud! You can FLY!?**

**Me: *Pulls out a ruby encrusted sword* Oh yeeees. And I can do much more than that! Flee in terror you little runt and do my disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: Pyrorynox doesn't own digimon. Now SAVE ME!!!! Also, please read and review.**

Despite the fact that I was unconscious, I could still feel movement underneath me. I suddenly felt a rush of air and something hard collide with my body. The collision brought me back to the waking world, as I opened my eyes and peered into the darkness. I felt around to get my bearings, only to crawl right into a wall. Turns out I was the one that did the colliding earlier.

"Where am I?" I said groggily as I rubbed my aching head.

"The _new_ dungeons," came an unexpected voice from my left. I momentarily jumped and fell on my bottom.

"W-who said that?" I became even more afraid when something started to tap on the bars. I quickly pulled my goggles over my glasses and started to fumble around with them. "If Kamemon put a scope on here then he might have added a night vision feature to it also. I pushed a random button and the area became bathed in a sea of green through the goggles. I looked into the cell next to mine and looked at the prisoner inside.

It was a rather large digimon, a few inches taller than I was. If I were to judge by his blue skin and white belly, I would say that it was just a large Veemon. But the armor he was wearing told me otherwise. On his paws, feet, and upper legs were what seemed to be cracked eggs with flame designs and claws sticking through them. On his chest was very tight vest-like piece of armor and the top of his head was donned with a red mask with a very large horn poking up from the nose.

"Who are you?" I asked. He got up and walked to the bars separating us.

"I'm Flamedramon, the fire of courage," he responded. I gave a weak smile.

"Nice nickname." Flamedramon started to chuckle lightly.

"I haven't seen a human in ages. So I guess it's about that time if you've finally come to the digital world." I looked at him more closely now.

"You knew a human?" I asked. Flamedramon started to laugh hard now. "Knew one? I was the partner digimon to the leader of the previous digidestined." I grew wide eyed.

"Are you telling me that you're a legendary digimon?"

"Yup. To another goggle head named Davis. He had the biggest crush on Nefertimon's partner."

I ran a hand through my black hair. I was fortunate enough to have already met one of the shadowed digimon from my dreams, but to meet two of them in two days seemed unreal to me.

"Flamedramon, I met Nefertimon yesterday. She told me a bit about Davis. That and I was having dreams about your final battle between Quetzalmon before I came here. Davis seemed like a very heroic person."

"Really now? Well you're right about that. To be honest, Davis wasn't exactly the smartest human. But he had the amazing ability to make anybody believe in him and to make anybody believe in themselves. Anyway, how is old Nefertimon? Still running from old Baamon's cane?"

"Uh, there was a battle in Paper Town around this time yesterday and Nefertimon got involved in it. She took a really nasty blow and almost didn't make it. Somehow though, I managed to save her. She's a Salamon now. But even though I don't exactly understand how that happened, another thing is really bugging me. When she turned back into Nyaromon some egg looking thing got absorbed by my digivice. Can you tell me what it was?"

Flamedramon grunted as he started to think. "If I had to ponder a guess, I would say it was her digi-armor. I can't tell you about it now, but maybe later. But I want to know how a human can have a elemental affinity for fire."

"How did you know?" Flamedramon chuckled again.

"We fire digimon can sense each other in one way or another. I guess your special for a human. So who's your partner digimon?"

I sighed as I thought about my meeting of Kumamon. "Kumamon." Flamedramon whistled.

"So you got Nefertimon's kid eh? I was always fond of him. He sure does love to fight. So, about how you got in here. You tried to fight Greymon, didn't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but how did get you?" I asked.

"That sneaky bastard attacked me while I was sleeping one morning when I hadn't eaten yet. I can't use my full power on an empty stomach, so here I am." he finished. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. But there were more important matters to attend to.

"We need to get out of here. I have to know if Kumamon is alright." I ran at the bars and tried to bend them, but to no avail. "Ugh! If only I could control my powers or could absorb some fire. I would torch these bars."

"So you can't control your powers, huh? Well I may be able to help with that." I turned around.

"How?"

Flamedramon got up and walked over the bars that separated our cells. "If you can even make a single fireball and throw it at me it should re-energize me. Then I'll be able to produce a fire for you to absorb. When rookie fire digimon are first starting out, their powers are triggered by emotions. Think about something that makes you angry."

"Okay." I closed my eyes and tried to think. There were plenty of things in my life that made me mad. Chase, losing C.J., but the one thing that made me angrier more than anything was if somebody hurt my friends back home.

_"When I get back here next Thursday, me and you are gonna give a little show. I'm going to give you the beating of your life. I want you to live this next week in fear. And if you don't show up I'm going to take the beating that I was going to give and I'm gonna give it to that fat ass girl that you like to hang around with. Or maybe I'll give it to that Erica girl."_

Chase's words running through my memories resulted in a low growl coming from my throat and a fireball forming in my hand. I quickly threw the fireball at Flamedramon and watched as his armor lit up, illuminating our two cages. I quickly took off my night vision mode goggles to avoid being blinded by the sudden explosion of light. Now that he was fully visible my digivice could get a proper readout on him.

**"Flamedramon, champion level. Type: Armored Dragon man. Vaccine type. Family: Nature Spirits and Dragon's Roar. Attacks: Fire Rocket and Flame Fist."**

He breathed deeply as his body regained it's old strength and flexed his arms and legs. "Wow, it's been a while since I've felt this good. That fireball must have been made from somebody with real potential."

I blushed at his praising words, but more pressing matters were at stake. "I appreciate the compliment, Flamedramon, but I think we should really be using this time to make sure I'm prepared for a fight too." I took a stance with my arms held out straight in front of me, palms open.

"Well you have a point there. Ready?" I nodded. "Okay, here we go." "**FLAME FIST!!!" **One of his fists lit up in a small inferno and he threw a punch, a steady stream of erupting from his fist and coming towards my open palms. The fire symbol on the back of my hand lit up as the flames were absorbed and I was surrounded by a fiery aura. Flamedramon whistled. "Like I said, you have some real potential. Now would you like to do us the honor of getting us out of here?"

I grinned as I put my hands to the bars and began to melt them. "It would be my pleasure."

........................................

Meanwhile, the rebels had retreated, taking Grizzmon along with them. He had eventually woken up and was now currently pacing around the cave that they were hiding in. He wasn't happy.

"Crud! I can't believe I let this happen! How could I have been so weak!?" he shouted at himself. Veemon walked up to him and put a paw on one of his armored shoulders.

"Don't worry. We'll get the human child out somehow, I can promise you that."

Grizzmon grunted. "What's with the change of heart about him all of a sudden? I thought you believed humans were weak." Veemon gave a weak laugh.

"Don't get me wrong. I still think he's not as strong as a digimon, but seeing the way you're beating yourself up about losing him, I may have been a bit harsh with the way I treated him. I forget that digidestined and digimon are connected. Besides, something tells me that he may have met my little brother, who can help him there. So let's think of a plan to storm Bravery Tower." A digimon in the crowd of rebels grunted at his words.

"Storm Bravery Tower? Are you insane? Even going near Bravery Tower is like committing suicide! Every mech in the city is there, so what chance would we have?"

All of the other digimon started to nod. Veemon slammed a fist into the rocky wall.

"You bunch of cowards! Have you forgotten what this city's principle is based on? Have you forgotten about all that Lord Flamedramon taught us about being courageous in the face of tyranny? He would be even more disgusted than I am right now! Lord Grizzmon, let's go! We'll get you human partner out ourselves."

He started to storm out of the cave, but a peach colored dog digimon stepped in front of him. "I'm coming too."

"Labramon, what are you doing?"

The dog digimon stood fast. "The digidestined saved me earlier in that fight and I'm not letting you go save him without me!" Watching the young, brave digimon who stood alone as the embodiment of courage, the other digimon slowly stood up.

"Well, it'll look bad to us older digimon if you youngsters show us up. I guess we have no choice but to go as well."

Grizzmon looked at the army in admiration and roared. "Alright! We storm Bravery Tower!"

.......................................

"Who in their right mind would put the dungeons at the TOP of the tower? Was that your idea, Flamedramon?" I yelled out.

"Well yeah, but they were originally just regular holding cells. I put them on top because they had a glorious view of Mechanized City and a lot of the surrounding area. I thought maybe if a prisoner saw it they'd change their ways, but Greymon turned it into an actual dungeon after he took over. Besides, don't you think we should be worrying about these guys?"

"Uh," I stammered as I quickly dodged a incoming rocket fired at me by one of the two dozen mechs that were currently following behind us. "Well, you do have a point there. What's the plan, Flamedramon?"

"We're going to the throne room on the middle floor of the tower. That's where Greymon is and now that I'm fully restored I can give him a Fire Rocket to the face! Plus with you here we have a pretty good chance of beating him."

I grinned as we ran down a long, downward facing corridor. "Sounds dangerous, but I've found that many things in this world are. So how far is it to the middle floor?"

Flamedramon quickly skidded to a halt as another dozen mechs appeared in front of us. "Five floors. But they're blocking the path. What should we do about that?" he asked with a smirk.

I clenched my hands into fists and slammed them together, my fists suddenly surrounded by fire. "We'll teach them that it rude to stand in someone's way." **"PHOENIX PUNCH!!!" **I ran up and punched two of the mechs in the head, setting them ablaze, and quickly jumped out of the way as they exploded, taking out the other ten behind them.

"Nice attack, Stanley! We should encounter more mechs as we get closer to Greymon. Let's go!"

...............................................

Grizzmon and the others had stormed the tower and were on their way up to Greymon's throne room. "So do you really think that they're not in the dungeon's anymore, Veemon?" asked Grizzmon.

Veemon nodded as he shouldered a gun that he had just made from the remains of a mech. All of the other digimon had one as well. "Yeah, I get the feeling that they got out somehow and are going to see the head honcho." They then ran into a crowd of mechs. "Just ram through them! We don't have time for a fight!"

Grizzmon took point and plowed through anything unlucky enough to cross his path. "I'm coming partner."

..................................................

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID WE HAD FIVE MORE FLOORS!!!" I yelled at Flamedramon as we ran away from no less than a hundred mechs.

"To be honest, I couldn't remember if it was five or twenty-five," responded Flamedramon as he punched the head off of a mech that had gotten way too close.

"Well it looks like there's a really big door on the side of the wall ahead of us. Could that be it the throne room?" I suddenly squinted as I saw figures running from the other side of the hallway. I pulled the goggles over my glasses again and used to scope to get a closer look. I gave a loud cheer as it turned out to be Grizzmon and the others and skidded to a halt in front of them. Initially, Grizzmon had looked overjoyed to see me safe outside of a cage, but then he put on his poker face.

"I see you finally made it out," he said as I pouted.

"Weren't you worried about me at all?"

"Ch. Who'd worry about somebody as stupid and as clumsy as you? I'm surprised you haven't killed yourself yet." He said with closed eyes. I pouted at first and then smiled.

"Thanks for worrying about me, bro."

He opening one eye and scoffed at me. "Yea, yea. Let's just go in here and kick Greymon's butt already. What the. Uncle Flamedramon?"

Flamedramon held up a clawed paw and waved. "Hiya, short stuff. Seems like you've grown a bit since the last time I saw ya."

Grizzmon rolled his eye in mock annoyance. "Well, digivolving will do that to you I guess."

While this was going on Veemon looked up at Flamedramon. "About time you got out, little brother."

Flamedramon rolled his eyes at Veemon and he crossed his arms. "Shut up, squirt. It's time to take back our city."

The four of us faced the door and pushed the huge, golden doors aside. When we looked inside Flamedramon's eyes nearly flew out of his head. The throne room looked more like a death chamber. It was circular in shape with stone, circular lava filled pits all carved out on the floor around the length of it. Every now and then the lava would erupt like a huge geyser. A large chandelier hanging from the ceiling lit the area in a dim light that only added the bleakness of the room. At the center of the room sat a large dinosaur like digimon.

"Greymon," I said in a low voice. Suddenly the mechs that were chasing all of us from each side caught up.

"You three go and stop Greymon! The rebels will take care of the mechs!" shouted Veemon as the rebels began their battle with the mechs. I turned to Veemon before he ran off.

"Be careful, you annoying tech head."

He grinned as he shouldered his mech gun. "You too, you weak human." Then he ran off to fight.

Flamedramon, Grizzmon, and I ran to the dinosaur sitting in the giant throne who smirked as he finally saw us. "Well look who's out of their cells."

"Greymon," Flamedramon started off in a low growl and built up in intensity. "What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY GAME ROOM!?"

Grizzmon and I both snapped our heads to him and said in unison, "Game room?"

"Yessss," Flamedramon said as he raised an arm and go that demonic look that Grizzmon and I sometimes got. "My throne room was a place where I could play various video games from the human world and I had a soccer court near the back of the room in honor of Davis. But, this jerk has ruined this glorious room! I WAS SO CLOSE TO BEATING DONKEY MADNESS!!! You've gone too far, Greymon. This ends now."

Grizzmon and I gulped as an intense fiery aura surrounded him. "Uh, Stanley? Maybe we should hurry up and fight." I nodded in agreement.

We all rushed at him with me in the lead. "Grizzmon, let's go!" I shouted. Grizzmon jumped over me and as he did I grabbed his claws and flung him at Greymon as hard as I could.

**"CRESCENT GRIZZLY SLASH!!!"** Grizzmon got into his glowing ball form as Greymon put his arms out in front of him and collided against Greymon's open palms. Greymon looked down as his legs were being pushed across the floor.

"This isn't going to beat me." He lifted his arms up and flung Grizzmon behind him.

I ran towards him, but he was more than ready for me.

**"NOVA BLAST!!!" **Greymon opened his mouth and sent a giant fireball at me. I slid under it and under him, jumping up behind his head.

**"BLAZE KICK!!!" **The flame attack hit him in the back of the head and sent him staggering forward into an uppercut from Flamedramon's Flame Fist attack. As Greymon flew up, Flamedramon set his whole body ablaze with a shout.

**"FIRE ROCKET!!!"** The flame covered digimon plowed into Greymon and sent him flying back into one of the flaming geysers that surrounded the throne room.

As Flamedramon landed back on the ground between Grizzmon and I, we wondered if it was really over. We could see Greymon's skin and muscle melting off from inside the geyser. Grizzmon sighed in relief. "It's definitely over."

"GREYMON, DARK DIGIVOLVE TO................SKULLGREYMON!!!" came a cry from the geyser. We all looked wide-eyed in disbelief as the geyser descended back into the pit, revealing a entirely new digimon.

It looked like the lava had completely burned off all of Greymon's skin and muscle, leaving nothing but a terrifying dinosaur skeleton with a large, orange missile on its back.

My digivice went off as I witnessed this increasingly menacing digimon. **"SkullGreymon, ultimate level. Type: Undead digimon. Virus type. Family: Nightmare Soldiers. Attacks: Dark Shot."**

"Um, this can't be good," said Grizzmon as he looked at Flamedramon, unsure of what to do.

The older, more experienced digimon clenched his claws together and jumped in the air. "No matter what you turn into you won't win!" **"FLAME FIST!!!"** He punched forward and sent three large fireballs in SkullGreymon's direction.

SkullGreymon gave a roar as the missile on his back clicked. **"DARK SHOT!!!"** The orange missile shot off of his back and ripped right through the fireballs with so much force it completely extinguished them. The missile continued as it ripped through an unsuspecting Flamedramon who could not dodge in midair. The dragon man digimon just chuckled weakly as he was impaled and fell to the ground as Grizzmon ran out to him.

I, on the other hand, just stood where I was, not believing what I had just seen. I looked at SkullGreymon with a fire burning in my eyes and the fire symbol on my hand glowed brighter than it ever had. "You bastard! I'll make you pay for this." I stepped forward as I suddenly found myself back in the white void, the bird of flames in front of me.

**"Hello again, my young charge. I heard of your plight and have appeared before you again to give you something that will assist you in battle."**

I looked at him as I floated in the void. "It's you. What do you want to give me?"

"**You are not able to control your full power as you are now, but what I will give you will bring out your latent capabilities and give you full control over you power at will."**

"That would be really useful right now. How do I use it?"

The phoenix flapped his large, majestic wings. **"Hold your digivice out in front of you and say 'Henshin'."**

I looked at him with my mouth agape. "Did you say 'henshin'? As in 'transform'? This isn't a Kamen Rider series. What's wrong with you?"

The fire bird groaned in annoyance. **"It just sounds heroic. Now go and take flight, young hero, and cut down those who threaten justice. Farewell, for now." **

As he faded away, I found myself back in the throne room, not a second passing. I pulled out my digivice and looked at it. "I guess it couldn't hurt." I stepped forward with my right leg and held my digivice out in front of me with my right hand and as I did so a flame wrapped around my waist and transformed into a golden belt, lined with rubies, with a flame shaped slot in the middle of it. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all." I continued to hold the digivice out in front of me as the fire symbol on my palm shot out and transformed the digivice into a larger version of the symbol. **"Henshin!"** I said as brought my left leg even with my right leg and took the symbol and put it inside the slot on my belt.

Flames began to erupt from the belt and wrap itself around my upper body, forearms, and forehead and began to harden into ruby colored steel armor with golden streaks in the shape of flames. The goggles on my head became encrusted in gold as a flame-like tail elongated from the back of the headband. My body floated in the air as two, flaming wings appeared on the back of the armor. A long broadsword was attached to a sheath on the side of the belt.

I looked at myself in awe as I continued to float in the air. "Awesome." I suddenly got serious as I glared at SkullGreymon. "Let's do this."

**"DARK SHOT!!!"** I put my hands out in front of me as and he shot an orange missile at me and caught it. It was a stalemate between me and the missile until I slowly started to push it back.

"This won't stop me!" I said as I struggled with the missile. I started to use all my strength to push the missile upwards, into the ceiling.

"Impossible!" shouted SkullGreymon.

I unsheathed my sword as I suddenly flew towards him, its blade burning red with heat. "You're going down!"

SkullGreymon began to panic. **"DARK SHOT!!! DARK SHOT!!! DARK SHOT!!!" **He started to send an endless wave of missiles at me, but every time one came close to me I slashed it in half. SkullGreymon would have been crying if he had the eyes to do so.

**"DARK SHOT!!!"** he shouted once more, but the launcher on his back just clicked, out of ammo. "That can't be! I should have unlimited missiles!" He suddenly looked up as I raised my sword and came down.

"Take this!" **"BLAZING SLASH!!!" **The blade ignited into an enormously long flame and slid through SkullGreymon's body like a hot knife through butter, his body splitting in half down the middle. I waited for him to dissolve, but got a small surprise.

Instead of dissolving, he shrank into a yellow dinosaur digimon as two data chips fell down to the ground. The small digimon looked around, as if unsure about where he was. "Um, hey buddy. You wouldn't happen to know where I am, wouldja?" My left eye twitched in annoyance as I turned my back away from him and ran over to where Flamedramon was.

He was on the ground, not moving, with a huge hole in his abdomen. Somehow, the rebels had beaten all of the mechs, although some of the digimon had not survived the battle, and were at Flamedramon's side. Veemon had his hand.

"You'll be fine, little brother. No one else but you could possibly lead this city." Flamedramon just chuckled weakly as his blood continued to spill on the ground.

"Uh-huh. Sure. Ya know, even though I was chosen to be a digidestined digimon, you still consider me just to be your little brother. That five minute lead you had on me isn't that much of a difference ya know." Everyone got worried as he started to glow, his body dissolving. As I walked up I sheathed my broadsword, the flame emblem on my belt glowing as I separated it from my belt and turned back into a digivice. The Armor I was wearing dissolved as Flamedramon started glowing for a different reason. The glow faded away and there laid another Veemon, a weird looking egg floating above him. A light shot out of the digivice and enveloped the egg, drawing the egg inside its core. The second Veemon sat up and gave me a huge grin.

"See, I toldja. Potential."

..........................................

I flew through Mechanized City as Kumamon ran under me.

"Stanley, get back on the ground! That's not even fair that you can fly!" he shouted in envy. I laughed at his form on the ground as I twirled through the air.

"No way! I'm having way too much fun!" I was having the time of my life. I flew to the front of Bravery Tower, where the two Veemon brothers were having a discussion with the Agumon that had nearly taken over the city.

I again took the fire emblem out of my belt and watched it turn back into a digivice in my hand, my ruby colored armor dissolving into nothingness for the time being. At the moment I was normal Kumamon finally caught up to me and jumped into the air. **"KUMA KICK!!!"** His knees glowed golden as they collided with the back of my head. "Take that, you airborne baka!"

I turned around slowly and glared at Kumamon as a red, smoking lump slowly appeared on the back of my head. "Teme!" I growled as I put Kumamon in a choke hold. The Veemon brothers and Agumon began to laugh as Kumamon's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. Agumon got up from where he was sitting and tried to separate the two of us.

"If you two are done trying to kill each other then I would like to give you something for all the trouble I caused." Despite how Greymon and SkullGreymon were, Agumon seemed really kind and helpful. I let go of Kumamon and opened my hand as he dropped two data chips in my hand, one with a clawed foot on it and the other was a skull and crossbones.

"Are these the data chips for Greymon and SkullGreymon?"

Agumon nodded. "Yup. When you beat a digimon that has dark digivolved, that digimon is purified, instead of deleted and turned into a data chip. And I also have some info to give to you two."

Kumamon and I cupped our hands to our ears and listened closely.

Agumon cleared his throat. "Well I used to work under the sovereign, Serpentmon. Not too long after the sovereigns rebelled against their sworn duty he did something to me that made me do a lot of bad things. He ordered me to travel to Paper Town and destroy the Bear of Truth." Kumamon flinched. "But I was passing by Mech City when I bumped into another dinosaur digimon. He was a bit taller than me and red with black hazard signs all over his body. I didn't really think anything of him at first, but somehow he knew exactly what I was doing and challenged me to a fight. He defeated me pretty easily, but didn't kill me. He left me and I dragged myself into Mech City. You know the rest."

Kumamon nodded and looked over to me, only to see me hugging myself with wide eyes. "Oi! What's wrong with you?"

I stared at Agumon. "Did you say serpent, as in snake?" Agumon nodded again slowly.

"Why?"

"I'm afraid of snakes." I trembled as I though about the slithering, limbless reptiles with fangs and nearly fainted on the spot. Kumamon ran out to catch me before I fell.

"Hey, you okay?" I nodded in confirmation. Then he turned to Agumon as he helped me back to my feet. "So which way did this dinosaur head, Agumon?"

Agumon pointed towards the east. "He headed towards Pyro City. It's about half a day from here, but I imagine that you two will want to get there much faster. So I suggest you leave as soon as you can. Also," his tone got darker. "The sovereigns will probably be getting impatient with the way things have been going. Watch out for them. I'm going to stay here and help fix some of the damage I caused."

Kumamon and I nodded.

"Before you go," said the Veemon that used to be Flamedramon, "Stanley, I want you to throw a fireball."

I raised an eyebrow, but raised my hand. But as much as I willed it, all I could make was a standard sized fireball. "What the? I thought I finally had full control over it."

Veemon nodded. "That's what I thought. You've gotten better with using it to the point that you can make your own genuine flames, but you can't use them to their full extent unless you're in that armor. If this were some kind of story it would be like a plot device to keep you from getting too strong, but that would be silly. Also, that digitama that your digivice absorbed. Was that what happened when Salamon was revived?"

I nodded. "I have a question. Were those digitama for some kind of special digivolving?"

"Yeah, the six legendary digimon could armor-digivolve. But I feel like you'll be needing those eggs for a different reason. Good luck with finding that dino. I have a really strong feeling that he may be the one that you two are looking for," he said.

The other Veemon with the tool belt got up and then walked up to me. "You didn't do too bad, for a weak human."

I smirked. "Yeah. Well you did okay too, for a cocky tech head." We both laughed, as did everyone else.

................................................

An hour later, all of the citizens of Mech City met us at the gates as Kumamon and I left.

"Hey, Stanley!" called Veemon. I turned around waiting to see what he wanted to say. "Keep training and make your fire submit to your will! Next time we meet, I'll be stronger! So don't you die before then!" he yelled as everyone waved.

I smiled. **"PHOENIX PUNCH!!!"** I sent the strongest flame punch I could at my current level into the sky as a promise to get even stronger as Kumamon and headed off towards Pyro City. As we left, that same dog digimon from before watched us. We didn't know it at first, but our actions had affected both Labramon AND Agumon in a way we'd be oblivious to for years to come.

..................................................

Meanwhile, eleven figures watched from the darkness of a cave, most of their moods on a quick turn to anger.

One figure with six arms glared at another figure slithering across the ground. "So, my scaly brethren, another of your mon has failed to kill the digidestined child. What do you intend to do to rectify the situation?"

The slithering figure in question stuck out a forked tongue and hissed in agitation. "You all jusssst need to relaxxxxx and let me handle thissssssss. Perssssonally." He cackled and hissed as all but two of them followed suit.

**Me: Wow, that was quite the chapter. So many Kamen Rider references in that one little section. I suggest you all go watch some of the series. Probably start with Den-O or Kiva. Anywho, I guess I should explain the whole 'Donkey Madness' thing. If you remember in the English dub of the Digimon adventure season 2 anime there is an episode where Ken is kinda looking back on his life before he tries to make a permanent move to the digital world. In one scene he is being interview for being the fake genius that he was and the reporter talks about Ken's conquest of the game 'Donkey Madness' and jokes about Ken telling him how to beat it. Apparently it was a popular game in the anime. So, hope I cleared that up for you guys.**

**Kumamon: Haha. I can't believe that you're afraid of snakes! Is that really true?**

**Me: Unfortunately. Erica once tried to get me to go to the snake house when we were in the Memphis zoo once.**

**Kumamon: What did you do?**

**Me: *Smiles dumbly* I stayed outside and watched at the Komodo Dragons instead.**

**Kumamon: O.O How is that any safer than going to see snakes?**

**Me: I like dragons. I want one. And a baby panda.**

**Kumamon: You're one weird human. Anyway, please review everyone. OI! DON'T YOU DARE GO IN THAT KOMOTO DRAGON CAGE!!! GET BACK HERE, STANLEY!!!**

**Me: NEVER!!!**


	12. Feral

**Hello once again my friends! Today's chapter will be a very special one. I had a lot of fun writing it. There's not really much action in it, but it has quite a bit of suspense. I hope that you all enjoy it.**

**Kumamon: Yo! What's up snake-boy?"**

**Me: *looks around in fright* snake!? Where!?**

**Kumamon: -_- calm down you idiot. There aren't any snakes around. I just called you snake-boy because you're afraid of snakes.**

**Me: Whew. Well you shouldn't even say that word around me.**

**Kumamon: Wow, you sure do have problems.**

**Me: *frowns* I'm sorry. I'm very strange. But I promise to try harder.**

**Kumamon: Eh, it's alright. But let's go ahead and get this chapter started before your two fans get too bored to read this. **

**Me: Well I think that Broken Angel and Catching Rain both like how we interact with each other so it's cool.**

**Kumamon: Bah. Whatever. Anyway, thanks you two for the reviews on that last chapter. It really put a smile on this idiots face.**

**Me: *grins broadly* it really did. so thanks for the great reviews. And welcome to any new readers. I hope you will all enjoy this chapter. Remember to review afterwards. Kumamon!!! Do the disclaimer!**

**Kumamon: *sighs* I'm hate to say it, but I'm actually getting used to this.**

**Disclaimer: Snake-boy here does not own digimon. Now excuse me while I run from snake-boy here.**

**Me: KUMAMON!!!**

The rolling plains of the digital world go on for miles, without anything else in sight. But on this one evening, if a mon were lucky enough, they would see a pretty interesting sight. The sight of me getting my butt kicked.

"Ow!" I cried as I fell on my behind for the seventh time that evening. Kumamon frowned as he resumed his fighting stance.

"Come on. How am I ever gonna train you in martial arts if you keep letting me knock you down? Get off your butt and do it right!"

I groaned in slight pain and got to my feet slowly. "This isn't that simple you know. You were born knowing this stuff." I stood with my knees bent, my left leg in front of my right leg, as if I was about to kneel and shifted my weight to my toes. My arms were brought up chest level with my hands open and fingers spread apart and bent at each joint."

Kumamon whistled as he took a good look at my new stance. "Wolf style huh? Looks like you may finally be getting serious about this." He moved his paw in the 'come on' gesture.

Not being one to disappoint I dashed at him quickly and swung both hands at him. Big mistake.

He grabbed my arms and frowned. "I've got four words for you. No pain, no gain!" He suddenly flipped me over his shoulder and slammed me into the ground. "That'll be enough for today."

I moved up and propped myself up on my elbows. "I'm sorry I'm not any good this."

Kumamon grunted in annoyance as he helped me up. "You should be sorry, but you do have a point about me being born knowing this stuff. I should probably be a little more patient with you. But we should really be getting to Pyro City before it gets dark."

He seemed a bit concerned when he said that and I took note of it. "Kumamon, are you afraid of the dark?"

He shrugged. "Eh, more or less. But I've got nothing on you, _snake boy_."

At the mention of the word _snake_ I flinched and started to look around the ground in fear. "Are there snakes here!? Save me, Kumamon!" I jumped on his back, surprising him. But he wasn't surprised for long.

"Oi! Get the heck off me, stupid! There aren't even any snakes here!" He got on all fours and started to buck wildly. Because of my fear of snakes I refused to let go so he eventually gave up. "You could at least have me digivolve so you don't break my back. You're not exactly a feather ya know."

I took out my digivice and let it float out in front of my palm and lightly slapped my palm into the back of it because of Kumamon's distance from me.

"KUMAMON, DIGIVOLVE TO..............................GRIZZMON!!!" Kumamon turned into his higher form with me still on his back and stretched. "Well, this is much better. Now let's get go." He gave a loud roar and began to gallop across the plains. What we didn't know was that a figure was watching us in the distance.

It spoke with a squeaky, yet rough voice. "So he's finally come to this world. I've been waiting a long time to meet him." It released a billow of smoke from its nostrils as its long, red tail swayed from side to side across the grass.

.......................................

I closed my eyes as the wind blew against my chocolate skin. "Hey, Grizzmon."

He grunted.

"Could you tell me about the whole digivolution thing on the way to Pyro City? I know you can digivolve using the digivice, but Nefertimon and Flamedramon said they used digi-eggs to do it. I'm a bit confused about it now."

My partner sighed as he continued to run. "Okay, I'll explain it just this once. Digivolving is a digimon's way of growing up. Once a digimon is born and they reach a certain age or have enough energy they digivolve in their next stage of life. When I was born I started off as a Botamon, which was my baby form. I was at my weakest then and could only blow bubbles as an attack."

I chuckled at that.

"Stop laughing. Anyway, after a few months I digivolved into my infant, or in-training form of Wanyamon. I became a bit stronger, but the only thing I could really do was bite. Eventually, I got to the age where I digivolved to Kumamon. Now this is where things get confusing. Normal digimon from here on would just grow into all the higher stages normally. But for digidestined digimon, we can do it depending on our partner's need for it, even if we just digivolved not long before. And we can also go back to our rookie forms without having to die first."

I nodded. "When you say _die_ you mean being turned into a data chip. You told me once that as long as a data chip intact that the digimon the data chip came from can be revived. But I though they came back as they were."

"Nope. They start over from scratch. All the way back to the baby form. Now for how the armor digi-eggs work. You see, they're for a substitute digivolving called armor-digivolving. There was a time in the last war where the digidestined digimon couldn't digivolve to their champion forms for some reason. The digi-eggs were developed to digivolve them into a secondary champion form that wasn't quite as strong as their normal champion form, but still got the job done. Only problem was that in those forms they couldn't digivolve any higher than that to the ultimate form."

My mouth dropped as I heard that. "Ultimate? You mean you could possibly digivolve into an even higher form than this one?"

Grizzmon grinned. "It's possible. I may if the time is right and if certain conditions are met. But I'm plenty strong right now. And so are you when you put that armor on."

I frowned at his comment. "Maybe. But I wonder if I'm strong enough." I was thinking about the things that were going on in my world. "I wonder what Malcolm and the others are doing without me. Ash is probably on the warpath right now leading a search team to look for me. She can be a bit crazy sometimes."

Grizzmon grunted this time. "You keep referring to your human friends as 'he' and 'she'. Why is that? I'd like to know more about humans."

"Well, the thing is that all humans are basically different, but we're basically divided by gender. Male and Female. Males are usually referred to as 'he' while females are referred to as 'she'. Got it?"

"I guess. But how do you tell the difference between a male and a female?"

I gulped. There was no way I was ready to explain the differences between the male and female anatomy to him. "Um, let's talk about that some other time. Let's just say that humans with deep voices are males and humans with softer voices are females. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, but are you a male? I mean your voice isn't exactly that deep. OI!!! WHY ARE YOU HITTING ME!?"

I held my right fist up in front of my face. "I am a guy. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You got that?" I said through clenched teeth.

Grizzmon pouted as the top of his head sported a new lump. "I got it. Geez. How in the world could you hurt a champion digimon without even using your new armor?"

I didn't say anything. Let's just say that when a man's manhood is questioned he can summon incredible strength.

Grizzmon looked ahead as a structure started to appear against the setting sun. "Hey, bro. I think we may be getting pretty close."

I pulled my goggles over my eyes and looked on ahead. "You're right. Looks like it's surrounded by some kind of wall, but there's a gate up ahead. By the way, how come every town we've been to so far has been surrounded by a wall, Grizzmon?"

Grizzmon slowed down to a halt as we eventually made it to the gate. "Well it's to keep the less pleasant digimon out. I told you things were getting pretty bad in the digital world and this is what a lot of villages are doing to try and calm the villagers some. So should we go in?"

I nodded as I looked to the top of the wall. "We should go in. By the way, do you see steam coming from the top of the wall?"

I got off of Grizzmon as he started to glow and reverted back into Kumamon. "Now that you mention it, that is kind of weird. I wonder why that's happening. Maybe we'll find out when we go in."

We both began to walk towards the gate as it automatically opened for us. Kumamon then told me that the gate are designed to sense malicious intent and receive those who don't have such intentions.

....................................

Meanwhile, a long, legless figure was having trouble finding its way through the dark forest as it was now almost completely dark in that part of the area. He showed his discomfort by taking his long, slimy tail and slamming it into a tree. The tail went through the trunk of the tree like it was butter and the tree toppled over.

"Sss. Thisss darknesss isss troublesssome. I may have to wait until ssssunrissse to dessstroy the digidessstined child before he managesss to find any more alliesss."

The serpent like figure continued to travel through the forest, every now and then the sounds of a tree falling could be heard.

.....................................

When we entered the gate, let's just say that there was a reason they called it Pyro City and also a reason for the steam that was coming from the top of the wall surrounding the city. The moment we set foot in the city waves of intense heat washed over us like an overheated sauna. I, being a fire user, was able to bear with the heat somewhat. Kumamon on the other hand wasn't faring as well.

"Stanley, help me." he said softly. The heat seemed to weigh him down to the point where he was on the ground, unable to get up. He barely even had the energy to speak. I carefully picked him up and carried him through the city on my back.

"I guess I've got to give you a ride every once in a while. Let's try to find someplace cool for you to rest in." Kumamon wrapped his paws around my neck and held on tightly. I looked over my shoulder to see him snuggled against my back. _'Wow, he seems so vulnerable right now. Most of the time he's really abrasive and aggressive, but right now he's like a child.' _I smiled to myself as I began to walk through the city.

As I walked I noticed that at the center of the city was a large furnace. "Hmph. I guess I found the source of the heat. I wonder why they would have something like that here." I looked around at some of the citizens. Most of them weren't even fire type digimon, and yet they seemed to be just fine in the intense humidity. "How is that even possible?"

"Stanley," came Kumamon's soft voice.

I turned looked over my shoulder at Kumamon again and saw him pointing towards a large building. "What is it, Kumamon?"

"Cool air. I feel some cool air coming from that direction."

I nodded as he slumped against my back again. I broke into a run and entered the building quickly and closed the door behind me. Kumamon was right about the cool air. But I didn't have the ability to say so since his paws had suddenly tightened around my neck. "Kumamon, what the heck?"

I heard a low growl come from behind me. "Let me go, right now," he said seriously.

I quickly let go and let him land on his feet. "What the heck was that about? You were suffocating me," I said as I rubbed my now sore neck.

"Hmph. Well that's what you get for trying to help me when I don't need help. Let that be a lesson to ya." And with that he began to walk around what looked like a clinic. "Where is this place?"

I glared at Kumamon's back but turned it into a sigh. _"He's only putting up a tough front. Not that I can blame him. When you've got the fate of a world on your shoulders you don't want to look weak unless you absolutely have to."_ "If I had to say, I guess it was some sort of clinic. Let's look around and see if we can find the mon that runs it."

At the mention of that a horn popped into view behind the main counter. It was yellow and had lines etched around it. Kumamon, being the genius that he was, hopped onto the counter, grabbed the horn in his paw, and pulled it up, along with the digimon it was attached to.

The digimon was yellow-skinned and looked kind of like a reptile. His tail was in a semi-erect position and had bumps on top of it regularly spaced. His blue belly had some kind of pink design in the middle. Most of his body was covered by a pale blue dog-like pelt with tiger-like stripes in a much darker blue. The pelt had what looked like four limbs with three violet claws attached to the end of each limb. It almost seemed like the front two were attached to the digimon's actual arms somehow.

**"Gabumon, rookie level. Type: Reptile digimon. Vaccine and data type. Family: Nature Spirits and Virus Busters. Attacks: Blue Blaster and Horn Attack."**

I stowed the digivice back in my pocket after I looked up the data for the digimon and walked up to the struggling Gabumon as Kumamon continued to hold his horn.

"Hey, let go of me. This is no way to treat the head of the clinic. What if a patient comes in here and sees this?"

I patted Kumamon on the shoulder and motioned for him to let the Gabumon down. "Kumamon, don't you think you're being a bit harmful right now? Put him down. You don't want to get kicked out of the only cool place in the city, do you? Or do you want to go back out side in that insane heat?"

Kumamon seemed to ponder this for a minute before he quickly, yet carefully, lowered the Gabumon back to his feet.

"It's about time you let me go. What was the meaning-" He stopped as he suddenly noticed me. "By the creator. A human. Long has it been since I've seen one of you in our world."

I smiled politely as Kumamon scowled. Looks like I was getting all of the attention again. "That's great and all, Gabumon, but if I'm here then you must have an idea as to what's going on."

The yellow reptile/dog digimon nodded. "Yes, you being here must mean grave news indeed. But what exactly are you doing here?"

Kumamon coughed, signifying that he wanted to talk now. "Well we come from paper town and we were told that there was a strange digimon here."

Gabumon blinked. "What kind of digimon are you looking for exactly?"

"Well, um, it would be one of five things. A dinosaur type digimon, a feline type, monkey type, phoenix type, or regular bird type, but we have reason to believe that it's most likely the dinosaur type one. Have you seen any unusual digimon that maybe fit those types?"

Gabumon put his fist up to his chin. It was a wonder how he didn't cut his head off with those sharp looking claws. "Well we get all types here, what with the furnace and all, but I can only think of one that may fit that description. There was a digimon born here a little after the last great war and as it grew it stood outside the gate, as if waiting for something. Or maybe someone. It was definitely a dinosaur type digimon considering it's current rookie form looks like a human world raptor."

Kumamon and I looked at each other. Maybe we were close to having another traveling partner. "Well what's that digimon like?" I asked.

"Well, almost none of the digimon here every really spoke to it. The ones that did usually came back scared furless. That digimon is surprisingly feral. But the strange thing is that he sometimes comes here and asks for medical supplies."

"What's so special about that?" asked Kumamon.

"Well I didn't think much of it at first, but then we started getting reports of hurt digimon being mysteriously bandaged up by an unknown digimon. Nobody's ever actually seen who did it, but I have a hunch it was him."

"Well," I sighed. "Does he make regular visits to this clinic or is it kind of just random times?"

"Well, I'd have to say that he comes about every few days. I'm guessing that tomorrow maybe is the next day."

Kumamon poked his jaw out and waved his arms. "Oi! So we gotta wait a whole day for just a chance that he might be here? I'd rather go out and look for him now."

"I wouldn't advise that," said Gabumon. "You'd have to go back out in that hot sauna. Judging from the way you came in here, I don't think you'd want to do that. Listen, since you are obviously the digidestined and his partner digimon then I wouldn't mind letting you stay here the night. Is that okay with you two?"

Kumamon and I looked at each other once again, thinking about how our sleeping arrangements went the night before. Having a full night of sleep on a soft bed without having to worry about being attacked sounded a lot better than taking three hour shifts out in the woods.

"You got a deal!" we both said simultaneously.

..................................

The morning came as it usually did in Pyro City. Hot and humid. But the regular villagers didn't really seem to pay it any mind. In fact hardly anything in the city was worth anymore notice than usual. But that morning was a little different. The early goer digimon turned their heads towards the gate as a familiar, yet not often seen form entered the gates and started making its way through the city. Its red tail swished around as yellow eyes scanned the area. Three long claws extended from the ends of its noticeably toned arms and his padded feet. An inverted hazard sign adorned each of its pectoral muscles and his forearms. Three spikes extended out of each arm, two sprouting out on either side of the inverted hazard sign on the forearm and a smaller one coming out of the elbow. Its most noticeable features were the small horn coming out the end of his nose and small ridges growing on its back.

The strange digimon snorted smoke and growled quietly at any digimon that looked at it funny. Then it suddenly stopped as it picked up a couple of scents. They were scents that it had never smelled before, and yet it was like the scents triggered a familiar feeling in him. The digimon's eyes narrowed into slits and after puffing a quick burst of fire out of its mouth it charged towards the clinic, almost instinctively, to find the owners of the scents.

....................................

"Ah, there's nothing like a glass of orange juice to make the morning bright and sunny!" I said with a broad grin on my face. Kumamon grunted in annoyance as he sipped on what looked like coffee. Apparently the digital world had coffee and Kumamon wasn't a morning mon whether he slept comfortably or not.

The room we had slept in the night before was on the second floor of the clinic and was more like a condo than anything else. That night I had had blissful dreams about beating Malcolm at video games and being picked on by Erica. But those were the only normal dreams I had. After that dream, I had had one where I was in a field of flowers. I was in the middle of the field, dressed in red armor. Not armor like the armor I had acquired the day before, but like the kind of armor that was worn in old england by knights, except without a helmet.

In front of me were two rocks and on each rock was a maiden. The maidens had their backs to me, but I could tell that I knew them. One was dressed in a blue gown while the other was covered in a green one. I had reached out to turn the two around and get a closer look, but before I could see their faces Gabumon had shaken me awake. At first I was a bit peeved at being woken up before I could see what I KNEW were beautiful maidens, but that glass of orange juice perked me right up.

Now that I was fully awake, I tried to think of who those two maidens could have been. I remembered that one of them had dark-blonde hair and the other had dark brown hair. Only two girls came to mind but there's was no way I could've been dreaming about them in such a fashion, right?

"I must miss them more than I thought. Maybe it's because those are the main two I'm worried about having to deal with Chase." I looked over to Kumamon who was staring at me.

"OI! Why are you talking to yourself over there?"

I smiled politely and said, "Oh nothing. I'm just thinking about a dream I had last night. It's really got me thinking."

"Bah! You should be thinking about finding this digimon instead of dreaming your crummy little dreams."

I pouted at my partner. "Hey, this dream seemed important. Besides, maybe the digimon will come to us. You never know."

Kumamon grunted again as he took another sip of his coffee. "Yeah right. What are the chances of that happening?"

At that moment the doors of the clinic shot inwards, letting in some of the heat that was outside. Kumamon growled and looked at the door, waiting for whoever opened them to come close enough so he could give them a 'piece of his mind.' He raised his fist, but suddenly dropped it as he finally got a look at what had come through the doors.

Slowly stalking in our direction was a red raptor-like digimon. As it came up Kumamon and I noticed that it had a strange aura that didn't feel that strong, but instead felt like there was something different about it. It looked back and forth between the two of us with yellow, slitted eyes which looked like it was ready to fight and kill if needed. It walked to Kumamon slowly, billowing smoke out of it nostrils. It got into his face and gave off a low rumble of a growl. For some reason, instead of being himself and instantly going on the attack, Kumamon just looked at the raptor digimon and gulped.

The digimon then turned towards me as if it seemed to get bored or uninterested in Kumamon and walked towards me. I quickly thought about backing away, but if I had I would've fallen back in the chair and then I would be at the mercy of this unusual, yet strangely intimidating digimon. I tried not to breath as it slowly put its snout against my neck and slowly started to sniff. I was wondering why I acting like this, but it was like my limbs just didn't want to move. This was like something out of Jurassic Park!

It pulled back a little bit and stared at me as if thinking about something. Then, without warning, it lunged at me and knocked me to the ground.

Kumamon immediately jumped out of his chair and silently chastised himself for freezing up like that. His fist gave a golden glow as he prepared to go on the attack against the digimon that was now making his partner into a meal while he thrashed on the ground. "YOU LET HIM GO!!!" **"BEAR...."**

"Ah! Help me!!! Stop that!!! It tickles!!!"

"fist?" Kumamon stopped his attack and ran over to the side of me and the digimon. To his utmost surprise and disbelief the once feral looking digimon wasn't making a meal out of me. Instead, it was playfully licking my face with a goofy smile on it's face.

Gabumon suddenly come from the second floor to see what the commotion was. "Hey, what's going on down here? Oh. It's that digimon." He looked awestruck as I was being tickled to death by the digimon's tongue.

"Hahahaha! Get this thing off me!!! hehehehehe!!!"

Kumamon just looked with a blank look on his face and his mouth ajar as I tried my best to get this suddenly playful digimon off of me before I laughed myself to death.

**Kumamon: O.o Stanley?**

**Me: Yes?**

**Kumamon: Who the heck is that?**

**Me: Um, it's a surprise.**

**Kumamon: *grabs me by my collar* Are you trying to get rid of me!?**

**Me: -_- no, i'm not. Now let go of me before I bar-b-que you.**

**Kumamon: *lets go* fine. But he better call me sempai.**

**Me: okay okay. Geez. Anyway, hope you all found this to be a good chapter and I should have the next one up in a few days. So, again, review and tell me what you guys think. Later.**


	13. Phobia

**I have a surprise for all of you. A super early update only a day after the last one!!! Who's excited!?**

**Kumamon: I hate to say it, but I'm actually a bit excited about this one, even though it is a bit rushed. **

**Me: Shut it! You just wanna see who this new mystery digimon is. Don't you?**

**Kumamon: Maybe. But anyway, we don't have a lot of time so I'll go ahead and do your disclaimer.**

**Me: Go for it.**

**Kumamon: Here we go. *Takes a breath but is interrupted by raptor digimon from last chapter* What the crap!?**

**Unknown digimon: Heehee. This is my debut chapter so I'm gonna do the disclaimer thingy for Stanley-mon.**

**Kumamon: Who they heck are you!?**

**Unkown digimon: You'll find out in a minute, Fuzzy.**

**Disclaimer: Stanley-mon does not own digimon. Now where's my bread?**

**Kumamon: *raises fist* I got your bread right here!!!**

**Me: *holds Kumamon back* There will be none of that kind of bread being served here today! Um, enjoy your chapter everybody. I admit it is a bit rushed and may be kinda crappy, but please read and review. Kumamon, stop that!!!**

Gabumon and Kumamon struggled to get the raptor digimon, but even with the two of them it took a lot of effort.

"Hahahaha! Hurry up and get him off of me! His breath smells like bread and donuts! Ahahahaha!" I tried to push it off of me as tears of laughter streamed down my face.

"Ugh! Get. Of f. Of. Him!" Kumamon cried with each tug. Then with one more mighty tug they finally got the big digimon off of me. I slowly got up as I still had a few giggles left in me.

As I finally calm down I walked over to a nearby mirror and looked at myself. I grimaced as I found my shirt and face covered in dirt and drool. "Awe man. I don't have anymore shirts to put on." I turned to where the others were holding the digimon, "Hey! What's the big," only to see that he had gotten out of their grasp somehow and was now right behind me with that same silly grin on his face. "Idea?"

"Hi!" it said in a child-like voice. I wasn't expecting that at all.

"Uh, hi?" I said, unsure as if I should try talking to him or just start running for my life. I slowly raised my hand up to shake his paw. He look down at the hand in interest as if he were a curious child and then lightly licked my hand. At first I wanted to pull my hand back, but I then realized that he was kind of acting like a pet dog. "What's your name?"

He took his attention away from my hand and looked intently at my face. Then he once again gave his goofy smile. Apparently this digimon liked to smile a lot. "Rexmon. Are you Stanley-mon?"

I blinked. "Eh? Stanley-_mon_? Well, uh, I guess I am. WAH!!!" This digimon, now known as Rexmon, had given a loud cheer and then proceeded to start licking my face again. Gabumon and Kumamon just looked in exhaustion.

"Oh I give up. He's way too strong to hold since I can't get my arms all the way around him for a bear lock. He's too big," whined Kumamon.

Gabumon chuckled. "Well look at it this way. As least you're not the one getting licked."

"Eh, good point."

…..............................

After we had FINALLY gotten Rexmon to calm down and stop licking me we all sat down at one of the tables and talked.

"So Rexmon," I started. "Are you really my digimon?"

The raptor digimon nodded with vigor. "Yup yup yup! When I was born here I stood outside the gate and waited for you. I got bigger after a while but I kept waiting for Stanley-mon."

I put my palm to my forehead. "For the twentieth time, it's just _Stanley_. There's no 'mon' at the end of my name."

Rexmon tilted his head to the side like a curious child. He was almost like an infant, despite his appearance when he had first entered the clinic. "Really? I thought all digimon had 'mon' at the end of their names."

Now it was my turn to act like a curious child. "Rexmon, I'm not a digimon. If you were really my partner you would know that I'm a human."

Kumamon nodded in agreement and slammed his fist on the table. "Dang straight! How could you not know what your partner is!?"

"Well it may be because he's an uneducated digimon," said Gabumon suddenly. The three of us looked at him.

"What do you mean by that, Gabumon?" I asked.

"Well, I told you that he spent most of his life right outside the gate, with very little interaction with digimon. He's never actually heard the stories about humans before. I once heard of a human story about a young boy who was orphaned and left to be raised by gorillas, or something like that. Isn't it very similar to that?"

I nodded. "I know that story. It's called Tarzan. A family was stranded on an uninhabited island, but they also had a young baby. The parents of the baby were killed by a wild an animal but the baby was found by a gorilla. The gorilla took the baby back with her to the gorilla colony where he was raised. Because he had never seen another human to compare himself to he thought he was also a gorilla. But when humans finally came back to the island after he had grown up he didn't know what they were. I admit that this situation is a bit different though. Instead of like in Tarzan, Rexmon knows exactly what he is, but since he's never ever heard of humans he just assumes that anything that comes to the digital world is a digimon also. They are similar though. Neither one was properly raised by beings of their own species so they're both uneducated. That's why he seems to act the way he does. He's like a child, but relies on his animal-like instincts when he feels threatened."

For once, Kumamon was at a loss for words. But only for a minute. "You may have a point there, but I'm still not convinced. I want proof."

"Awe, come on, Kumamon. Cut him some slack," I pleaded.

"Hey, Stanley. Were there any _snakes_ on that island from that story?" Kumamon asked with a smirk.

I jumped on top of the table and began to scream like a girl as I looked around the clinic for snakes. Kumamon started laughing so hard that he fell back in his chair and held his now aching sides.

Rexmon looked at this spectacle in awe and looked at something on his forearm. "Um, What about this?" he said as he laid his arm on the table for us to look at it.

Kumamon got himself together so he could look at Rexmon's arm. "What? I don't see anything." I knelt down and looked closely at his forearm. Then I noticed something right below his inverted hazard sign.

"What is that?" I got down from the table and looked at Rexmon's arm very intently. The thing I had noticed happened to be a very familiar symbol. "Is that the kanji for 'fire' on your forearm?" I took my arm and laid it on the table beside his. "Why do you have it?"

Rexmon raised his eyes upward and put the end of a claw in his mouth as if thinking. "Well I thought that all of Stanley-mon's digimon had it."

We both turned our heads to Kumamon who, again, looked stumped for words. "Well, Kumamon."

Kumamon gave a defeated look and pulled the training grip on his right paw back some. As he laid it on the table beside ours we could see the fire symbol on his forepaw as plain as day. "Happy now?"

I gave a smile and nodded. "Yeah, so this symbol is also on all of my digimon too. That kind of makes it easy to identify them if a situation like this happens again."

"It could be a fake," Gabumon pointed out. Kumamon picked up on that immediately.

"That's right! It could be fake!" he shouted as he looked directly at us and pointed towards the ceiling. Suddenly all the lights went out except for one that was directly above Kumamon's head, bathing only him in a white light.

"The light of realization! I thought it was just a myth," said Gabumon in awe.

I looked at Kumamon knowingly and walked over to him. "Give me that right now." I took a box out of his paw and pushed a button on it. All the lights came back on. "Light of realization my butt."

"Hey, don't spoil my fun. Anyway, Gabumon does have a point. What if it's fake?"

I held up my digivice and the marks on Kumamon's and Rexmon's arms began to glow. "You can't fake that, Kumamon." Admitting defeat, Kumamon pulled out a white flag from out of nowhere. "Good. Gabumon it was good meeting you, but now that we've found what we came for we can be on our way. Come on, you two."

Kumamon and my newfound digimon partner, Rexmon got up and prepared to follow me outside, but Gabumon stopped us.

"Wait, now that you've found him what are you supposed to do now?"

I thought about it. "Now that you mention it, I have no clue. I figured maybe something may come up."

"Why don't you stay here in Pyro City and explore a little bit. See if you can find a few clue. I'd just for you three to wander around aimlessly without a clue of what to do next." Again, he had a point.

"Um, sure. That sounds alright. What do you guys think?" Rexmon seemed okay with the idea. Kumamon, as usual, show a bit of annoyance.

"Well, I'm not exactly in any hurry to go back in that heat, but let's try not to stay here too long. You can go exploring with your _new buddy_, but I'm staying here where I won't be cooked alive into bear stew."

"Okay, we'll be back later then. Come on, Rexmon. Let's see if we can find something interesting in the city." Rexmon nodded and followed me out of the door.

Just as the door was about to close Kumamon shouted out, "Hope there aren't any snakes out there!"

"KUMAMON!!!" I shouted as loud as I could as the door closed.

After Rexmon and I started walking around the city Gabumon walked over to Kumamon. "How come you keep mentioning snakes to your partner?"

Kumamon sat down in a chair and crossed his arms. "It turns out that he's afraid of snakes. He's gonna have to get over that fear if we're gonna beat one of the sovereigns who just happens to resemble a snake. I don't want him to freeze up in battle."

"But wouldn't the way you've teasing him only make things worse?"

"It could, but I have to believe that when the time comes he'll be able to conquer his phobia. _All _of his phobias.

…............................

Meanwhile, outside the gate, the slithering figure from before eyed the city from the edge of the forest. "Ssss. I have finally found my way out of thisss foressst. It'sss time to die digidessstined child." He then began to slither towards the city, intent on causing a hell never before seen.

…...............................

Rexmon walked by my side like an excited child, a very big child. Slouched down like he was he still reached up to my chest. All around the citizens of Pyro City stared at the sight of the normally non-social and feral digimon humming a tune like he didn't have a care in the world.

"So Rexmon, can you tell me a few things about yourself? Since we're gonna be traveling together I think it's important that we know each other."

"Uh, like what?"

"Well, I heard that you rarely came into the city. What did you do all that time you were outside?"

"Um, I walked. A lot. And I got to fight a lot of digimon and got stronger. A few days ago a had a fight with an Agumon. He seemed bad. I don't know what happened to him afterwards though."

"That Agumon you beat took refuged in a nearby city claiming to be you. Then he kinda took it over." As I said that, Rexmon's pupils reduced to narrow slits and he gave off a low growl.

"I'm gonna go back and beat that bad digimon." He started to run towards the gate, but I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Whoa boy. There's no need for that. Me and Kumamon already solved that problem. He's a good digimon now." I breathed a sign of relief as Rexmon's eyes slowly returned to their normal curious look. "Listen, let's just walk around a bit and see if there's anything interesting."

"What about the that HUGE thingy that makes everything hot?" He spread him arms out to emphasize how big it was.

"You mean the furnace? I've been wondering what that thing was used for. Let's go." We walked over to where I had seen the furnace before and began to look around.

"I toldja it was huge, Stanley-mon. But what's it do?"

I raised my arm up towards it and could feel that there was an object of great power inside. "If I had to guess I'd say it was protecting something, or maybe trying to keep something at bay. Well there's no exactly a lot of things to do here. What do you want to do now? Rexmon?"

I turned to the dinosaur, but he just stood transfixed on the rear gate to the city that was in the distance. Now that I looked around, _everybody_ was looking at the rear gate. "What in the world?"

…..............................

"What's wrong, Kumamon?" asked Gabumon as he watched Kumamon tense up in his chair.

The bear digimon jumped out of his chair and started walking briskly to the door. "Something's not right. I'm feeling some strong killer intent coming from outside. I need to find Stanley and that crummy raptor."

"Aren't you worried about the heat outside?"

Kumamon sighed. "It's just something I'm gonna have to deal with. We'll all come back soon." And with that he walked out of the door.

Gabumon sighed. "I hope nothing bad happens to you three.

…..........................

The rear gate suddenly exploded and rubble was thrown everywhere, causing a thick layer of dust to be formed. Through the dust a pair of red eyes could be seen staring at everybody in the area.

"Well that can't be good," I said.

"I smell a digimon," said Rexmon as he started to go feral again, growling as he started to run towards the figure. Before I could stop him he had already entered the dust cloud and the sounds of battle had already begun.

I groaned and began to run towards it too, but a familiar paw had wrapped around my wrist. "Kumamon? What are you doing out here?"

Kumamon had definitely look a lot better before. Right now his pupils looked dilated and he was sweating so hard that he fur was sticking to him. "I felt some strong killer intent and thought that I should come help out. Figures that the animal would jump into it head first. Hey, do you mind slapping some ice on me or something?"

I couldn't help but smile at his attempts at comedy despite the fact that he was obviously suffering. I took out the pouch of data chips and looked through them until I found one that had what looked like a snowflake on it. "Digichip, boost!" At once a light blue aura surrounded Kumamon's body before it faded and he looked good as new.

"Ah much better. Now let's go!" I nodded as we both ran to the dust cloud that was now starting to clear up. As we reached it Rexmon was thrown out of the cloud and skidded to a halt in front of us.

He quickly got up and opened his mouth towards the clouded figure. **"PYRO SHOT!!!"** A large ball of fire started to form in his mouth and then sped towards the figure, engulfing the whole dust cloud in flames.

Kumamon watched this display of power with a grin on his face. Apparently he had a bit of respect for the dinosaur digimon. "Oi! Stanley! Time for a bit of digivolution!"

I pulled out the digivice and pointed it at Kumamon. "You're good to go."

"KUMAMON DIGIVOLVE TO..........GRIZZMON!!!" The massive grizzly bear ran up and helped Rexmon to his feet.

"Wow, did you get bigger?" he asked in awe.

Grizzmon growled in annoyance. "I swear, I think you annoy me more than Stanley does. And trust me, that's a very hard thing to do. Stanley, think you can make dopey over here digivolve too!?"

I held the still glowing digivice up and pointed it towards Rexmon. "Alright!" I drew my palm back and prepared to slap the back of the digivice.

"Sssssssss."

I suddenly froze as Grizzmon and Rexmon wondered what the hold up was. "OI!!! What are you doing!?"

I didn't respond as I watched the dust finally clear and the figure was finally revealed. "S-snake!"

Kumamon and Rexmon both raised an eyebrow and looked to where the figure as currently slithering in their direction.

It's lower body was just like a snake's, but it's upper body was more humanoid with two arms a sticking out of black armor of some kind. It's scaly body sported a coating of mostly red, but had various blotches of green, yellow, and black all over it. His hands clenched into fists as a long, forked tongue slithered between two very long fangs. Red slitted eyes scanned the three figures in front of him, but lingered on me for a second longer than on the others.

Peering into those eyes for those few seconds was enough to make me weak at the knees as I collapsed on the ground and fainted, oblivious to the cries of "Stanley" and "Stanley-mon" coming from my two digimon as this new, frightening digimon slithered towards me with saliva coming down its mouth.

**Kumamon: Wow, you suck Stanley.**

**Rexmon: Even I have to say that it's sad how many times Kumamon got you with that snake joke.**

**Me: Shut it, both of you! Anyway, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out but be on the lookout. Remember to review. Laters.**

**Rexmon: Bye-bye!!!**

**Kumamon: Whatever.**


	14. Faith

**Kumamon: Stanley. OI! Where the heck is he?**

**Rexmon: I think he may be hiding.**

**Kumamon: Why would he be hiding? Oh Yeah. IT'S BECAUSE HE'S BEEN GONE FOR THREE EFFING WEEKS!!!**

**Rexmon: Maybe you're being to hard on Stanley-mon. This was a hard chapter to write and he had writer's block for a while there.**

**Kumamon: How do you know? You know where he is, don't you?**

**Rexmon: *closes mouth and shakes his head***

**Kumamon: Listen here and listen good. Tell your sempai where Stanley is right now and maybe I'll decide not to hurt you.**

**Rexmon: *Starts sweating bullets and yells out* HE'S BEHIND YOU!!!"**

**Kumamon: *turns around* aha! Found you!**

**Me: Rexmon, you traitor! I gotta get out of here! *runs away***

**Kumamon: GET BACK HERE, SNAKE-BOY!!! **

**Rexmon: *starts eating a loaf of bread***

**Me: Sorry for the long delay everybody, but before I knew it three weeks had passed by since I released the last chapter. I apologize. Now in last chapter I got a my second digimon. I realize that many of you may have mistaked him for the popular Guilmon, which is who I all wanted you to think it was at first, but Rexmon is my own creation largely based on Guilmon. Now please enjoy your long awaited chapter. Kumamon, leave me alone! I'm sorry!**

**Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own digimon and he may not even own a life if Kumamon catches him.**

"OI!!! WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!!! CRUD!!!" shouted Grizzmon as the serpent digimon slithered ever closer to my now unconscious form. He galloped towards the unknown digimon and jumped into the air. "Take this!" **"GRIZZLY SLASH!!!" **He brought his claws down in an X shape and fired his golden shock wave attack. The golden grizzly bear head roared as it grew in ferocity, but fizzled out as it collided with the back of the digimon's back. Grizzmon was definitely surprised. "What the? My attack didn't work!?" He gave off a low growl as his eyes narrowed at this strong digimon. "Just who is this guy?"

Rexmon had watched this all with slitted, yellow eyes. Normally he would be peaceful, even downright goofy. But now his primal lust for battle had taken over his normally naïve and childlike nature. He growled as he slowly approached the snake/human hybrid. Like a predator he circled around him, sizing him up for his assault.

Grizzmon just watched with interest. This was how Rexmon had acted when he first entered the clinic, but after the whole licking incident Grizzmon thought that maybe he had imagined seeing Rexmon acting like that, even though Gabumon had stated himself that Rexmon was feral most of the time. Now that he was seeing this attitude for a second time there was no way he had imagined it before. That goofy raptor was a natural born fighter.

Rexmon finally lunged at the serpent digimon with a series of jabs aimed at his chest, but because of his flexible body it was able to just weave itself around the jabs. "Sss. You think a rookie would be able to beat me? You guessssed wrong!" He took his long tail and wrapped it around Rexmon's body, then sent sailing into the air.

Rexmon gave a snarl as he went airborne, but somehow used his tail to stabilize himself while he was in midair. He opened his mouth in the Digimon's direction prepared his attack. **"PYRO SHOT!!!" **He shot off fireball after fireball as he flew towards the ground, but they did little other than to create a smokescreen around the digimon.

Grizzmon ran under Rexmon and caught him before he hit the ground. "Nice try, but it jack squat. What now?"

Rexmon said a rough growl, "Get Stanley-mon and go back to Gabumon! That is digimon is strong." Grizzmon looked from him to the smokescreen and saw that the rookie raptor had planned this.

"How come all idiots are always full of surprises? Oh well." He turned around and scooped me up in his mouth and weaved in between buildings to get back to Gabumon's clinic.

While this was going on, the snake digimon had slithered out of the smokescreen and out of the city. He had made note of the way I had reacted to his appearance and began to scheme. "Ssss. The digidessstined child ssseemsss to be afraid of me and without him hisss digimon ssstand no chanssse agianssst me. Fufufu. Sssinsse they are no threat, I'll have some fun with my prey before I kill it."

…............................

Meanwhile, in a dark place concealed by a cliff face, ten shadowed figures watched this development with less than pleased looks. Well, most of them did anyway. One figure waved one sword in front of his face, then a second and a third.

"What is that fool thinking? He should not be underestimating the digidestined," he said as another figure slammed a fist against the wall.

"Must he always play around with his opponents like this? If he weren't one of our brethren I'd kill him for his stupidity," he said with a slight snobbish accent as a small stream of water came out of the crack that he had put into the rock wall. He almost flinched as another one of the figures put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "What is it that you want, my brother?" he asked in a now annoyed voice.

This figured smiled kindly in the darkness and spoke in a more kind voice. "You should calm down. I'm fine with what our brother is doing since I believe there's no point in defeating an opponent that stands no chance. I find it dishonorable."

The snobbish sounding figure scoffed at his comrade. "Your pacifist ideals with the end of you one day, but I'll try to keep my head." He and the others looked towards the screen that they were watching everything from that seemed to be built into the rocks. "Serpentmon may fail, but we will all get our chance at destroying the digidestined. Fufufu."

…......................................

The heat was finally starting to get Grizzmon again as he finally reached the doors of Gabumon's clinic. He nudged them open with his head and slowly walked in. Gabumon was surprised when he saw the hulking grizzly bear enter his clinic, but when he saw Rexmon and I, still unconscious, on the back of him he realized who the grizzly bear was.

"Welcome back. What happened out there?"

Rexmon hopped off of Grizzmon's back and ran up to Gabumon with his tail wagging excitedly. "Gabumon, you missed it. We ran into a BIG digimon," he stretched his arms to emphasize, "but he was really strong so we ran away."

Gabumon looked from Rexmon to Grizzmon, but Grizzmon only shook his head. Then his eyes wandered to my unconscious form on Grizzmon's back. "What happened to Stanley? Did that digimon get him?"

Grizzmon snorted. "This idiot fainted at the very sight of that digimon. It was the snake-like digimon that we had heard about before. The sovereign, Serpentmon." At the word 'serpent' a groan was heard from my direction. I rubbed my eyes as I slowly sat up.

"Hey, what just happened?" Grizzmon growled at me as I tried to get off of him, but then bucked me off. "Hey! What's the big idea!?"

"YOU COWARD!!! HOW COULD YOU FAINT LIKE THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT!?"

I thought back to a few minutes ago and finally remembered the snake digimon from before, the memory of it sending a shiver down my spine. "That snake thing. What was that digimon?"

"If I had to wager a guess, I would say it was Serpentmon." said Gabumon.

I pulled out my digivice and looked up Serpentmon's data.

**"Serpentmon, champion level Sovereign. Type: Snake-man digimon. Virus type. Family: Nature Spirits and Nightmare Soldiers. Attacks: Serpent Strike."**

Grizzmon grunted as the digivice displayed its information. "So the big boys have finally come out to play. Guess they got tired of losing. Anyway, that guy was really strong. If it weren't for Chumley's smokescreen I'm not sure sure if we could've gotten out of there with our fur intact." As he was saying this Rexmon could be seen in the background, pointing to himself confused at the word "chumley". "On the other hand, if we had been at full strength then I'm almost certain that we could've taken him out. But because of a certain _goggle-headed idiot_ we were at a great disadvantage."

I hung my head in shame as he said that. I realized that it was my fault we couldn't fight our best. I knew from the digivice that Serpentmon was only a champion, but he was still a sovereign and that had to mean that he was probably a lot stronger than your typical champion level digimon. One champion digimon couldn't have beat him. "I'm sorry, Grizzmon."

"BAKA!!! 'SORRY' IS NOT GOING TO CUT IT HERE IN THE DIGITAL WORLD!!! FAINTING LIKE THAT IN A FIGHT WILL GET YOU KILLED HERE!!! WHAT WOULD WE DO THEN IF YOU GOT KILLED!? WE NEED YOU IF WE'RE GONNA SAVE DIGI- WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?" He had to stop as I had suddenly bolted out of the front doors of the clinic.

…..................................

I ran through the city and weaved through digimon to get to the gate. _"God, I'm such an idiot! Stupid stinkin' phobia. Now Grizzmon's mad at me. If I'm gonna make up for fainting during a fight then I'm gonna have to take on Serpentmon myself, despite my fear!_"

I stopped at the place where we had first encountered Serpentmon, but saw him nowhere in sight. _"Damn, where is he?" _I ran up to a random digimon and asked where the digimon that had attacked went.

"That sovereign? After that fight he left the city through that hole he made in the wall earlier."

"Thank you!" I shouted quickly as I ran towards the demolished wall. A flame appeared around my waist and formed into a belt as my digivice took on it's fire kanji form. "HENSHIN!!!" As I snapped the digivice into the belt the phoenix fire formed around me and made the armor I had used to defeat SkullGreymon. With one flap of flaming wings, I took off into the sky, towards the forest.

….....................................

Grizzmon stared at the door as if he were expecting me to come back through that door at any moment. After a few more minutes he finally hung his head. "He's not coming back, is he?"

Gabumon took this opportunity to walk up and put a paw on Grizzmon's armored shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about him too much. He's probably just upset and needs time to cool down. Just give him time."

Rexmon gave a goofy laugh as he felt reassured by Gabumon's words. "Stanley-mon afraid of that big snakey anyway. Not like he's gonna try to find it and beat it by himself, right?" At this time, Rexmon had decided to pull out a piece of bread from seemingly out of nowhere and started to eat on it.

As Grizzmon watch Rexmon's feast with annoyance and yet a bit of curiosity as to where Rexmon pulled that bread from, he suddenly realized that what Rexmon said sounded like something I would do. "Oh crud. He wouldn't. Oh who am I kidding, of course he would! Oi! We gotta go you gluttonous lizard!" He grabbed Rexmon and hoisted him onto his back just as he was about to take another bite of his bread. Apparently he wasn't finished yet.

"Wait! My bread!"

"Finish it later! We have an idiot to find!"

.........................................

While all this was going on, Serpentmon was rested in a field littered with demolished trees that he had apparently destroyed. He may have been an evil digimon, but even evil digimon needed naps every now and then. He had peaceful dreams of screaming digimon that ran away from him in fear as he killed and maimed others just for the sheer joy of it. A contented smile found its way to Serpentmon's face as he continued his dream of outrageous slaughter.

…....................................

"He must be somewhere around here if all these knocked down trees are any indication," I said as I flew over the forest in search of my foe. I reached up and pulled the now armored goggles over my eyes. "I've got a scope and I have night vision. Time to see if Kamemon put a tracking device or some sensors in these things." I fumbled around with the goggles until I found a feature that was a lot like the map on my digivice. And, as luck would have it, a sensor picked up something about a hundred yards ahead of me. I flew towards the ground and landed, deciding to run the rest of the way as I could be spotted easily in the air. I pulled my sword from its scabbard and followed the signal to where Serpentmon would surely be.

…..................................

Grizzmon and Rexmon looked all around the city for me and had eventually gone to the site of the previous battle. When they couldn't even find me there, they both began to worry.

"There's nowhere else he could've gone, so where the heck is he?" Grizzmon asked himself worriedly.

While Rexmon was also worried, he was a bit more calm about it. He put his nose to the ground and started to sniff. Grizzmon was curious about this.

"What are you doing over there, Rex?"

"I found Stanley-mon's scent." He followed his nose and walked out of the hole in the wall. "It's faint, but it definitely leads into the trees. But his scent is in the air. That's weird."

"He probably used his armor and flew into the forest."

"Flew? I didn't see any wings on him. Wait." He suddenly started to sniff again, as he had found a new scent.

"What is it?" asked Grizzmon.

Rexmon growled as his eyes suddenly narrowed into vertical slits. "Snakey."

Grizzmon's eyes widened as he heard that. "So he really is trying to find Serpentmon. That idiot. There's no way he's over his fear just like that. He'll need us. Rexmon, lead the way!"

Rexmon nodded and then took off into the forest as Grizzmon followed after.

….................................

I sighed as I finally reached a clearing surrounded by uprooted trees, with Serpentmon being in the center of it, apparently asleep. I slowly began to sneak over to where he was, raising my sword above my head in preparation for my attack. As I got closer and closer to him though, I started to tremble. I bit my lip and tried to calm myself.

_"Calm down, Stanley. If you can just sneak up on him before he wakes up then you can just finish it quickly. If you focus on his upper half it won't feel like you're fighting a snake digimon. Yeah, I just need to think like that. I can do this!"_

Without realizing it, I had made it to Serpentmon and was moments away from slashing down with my sword. "Here we go," I said slowly, still a tad bit afraid.

At that moment Serpentmon's eyes shot open and he looked up at me. I looked into those eyes and froze on the spot.

"Well well well. What'sss thisss? A little digidessstined hasss gotten himssself lossst in the foressst. Let'sss sssee if we can't help you find your way home. Ssss." He slowly rose up and slithered around me, his coils wrapping loosely around me.

As he faced towards me and flicked his tongue I suddenly screamed and scrambled out of his coils. To afraid to remember that I could fly, I ran back into the forest, frantically trying to get away.

Serpentmon licked his lips and began to give chase. "Let the chassse begin."

….................................

I ran blindly through the forest as I tried desperately to get as far away from the snake digimon as I could. I wasn't even paying attention as a long, slimy tail suddenly appeared in front of me. I had no time to evade as the tail slapped me on the side of the head and sent me flying into a tree. The force of the attack made my armor disperse in a burst of flames. I didn't even have time to get up as a scaly hand wrapped itself around my neck and hoisted me into the air.

"Now you didn't think you could get away from me, did you?" asked Serpentmon mockingly as his hold on my neck tightened. I clawed his hand, frantically trying to get him to let go as I started to lose air. Serpentmon chuckled at my useless attempts to get out of his grasp. "Ssss. Doesss it make you afraid, knowing that you're going to die in mere sssecondsss?"

**"GRIZZLY SLASH!!!"**

A roaring grizzly bear head flew at Serpentmon but before it could hit him, he slashed through it with his other hand. "It ssseemsss that help hasss come for you."

Grizzmon suddenly came flying through the trees and ran at Serpentmon. "LET HIM GO, TEME!!!"

Serpentmon waved a finger in front of his face in a disapproving manner. "Tsssk. Tsssk. Tsssk. Sssuch terrible language coming from sssuch a young digimon."

Grizzmon growled as Serpentmon mocked him. "Kisama!" **"MAUL ATTACK!!!" **Grizzmon began to attack Serpentmon with his claws and teeth, but even with me in one of his hands he was still able to dodge all of Grizzmon's strikes. He then grabbed Grizzmon by his hind legs and threw him into the ground. With Grizzmon down for a minute he then focused his attention back on me as applied more pressure on my neck. I could feel my life slowly slipping away as I suddenly felt no energy in my arms and the slumped to my sides.

Serpentmon began to laugh mercilessly as he felt me slowing slipping away, but suddenly screamed and opened his hand, releasing me from his grasp. Looking down at his tail he saw that Rexmon had grabbed onto it and had sunk his teeth razor sharp teeth deeply into it. He quickly swatted Rexmon off of his tail and started to blow on it.

As Serpentmon was busy tending to his tail, my two digimon had gotten up and ran to my side as I caught my breath.

"Stanley-mon, are you okay?" The raptor digimon smiled as I slowly gave a thumbs up. Grizzmon, on the other hand, wasn't as happy.

"What were you thinking, running away like that and trying to fight a sovereign by yourself!? Have you lost your mind!? Have you forgotten that about how scared you were earlier!?" He was certainly giving me the guilt trip.

"Grizzmon, I'm sorry for fainting like I did earlier. I thought maybe I could make up for it by beating him by myself. But I was thinking out of fear and just being stupid. If you two hadn't showed up I would definitely be dead right about now." I smiled at the two of them. Grizzmon sighed and finally smiled.

"Well it's not like I'm afraid of absolutely nothing, but if you ever run away like that I'll kill you. Now, if you're feeling a bit braver, how about we all have roasted snake for dinner."

I had felt better, but now I just frowned. "As much as I want to fight, I'm still afraid to go near that thing, especially since he nearly killed me."

Rexmon came up to me and licked my cheek affectionately. "It's alright to be scared; everyone is afraid of something. But if you stand up to your fear and have faith in yourself you'll become stronger for it."

I smiled, knowing there was truth to his words, but I was still unsure. Grizzmon could sense my doubt and it annoyed him, much like everything else in the digital world.

"Geez, what would your friends in the human world think of you if they could see you right now?"

"My friends?" I thought about their reactions if they saw me cower before something like Serpentmon. Erica, Malcolm, and Shelby would think I was right to cower before such a menacing foe, but Ashton-" It suddenly hit me when I thought of Ashton. "It's the thought of Ashton that'll give me the strength to fight. If I think of her, I can fight anybody."

Both Grizzmon's and Rexmon's ears perked up in confusion.

I picked up my digivice that had fallen on the ground and taken on its regular form and pointed it towards Rexmon, then let go of it as it floated in the air in front of me. "Rexmon, if we're gonna beat this guy then we need to be at full strength. It's time you got an upgrade."

Rexmon yipped happily as his body began to glow gold as my digivice and the back of my hand did the same. Connecting the symbols from my palm to the digivice, Rexmon began his evolution as an outline of a rather large digimon shot out of the digivice and surrounded him.

"REXMON DIGIVOLVE TO..........." Rexmon began to growl larger, much larger. The tiny ridges on his back began to grow into large, spiky ridges. The blades on his elbows grew long and sparked with electricity as three spikes came out of his head, one from the end of his snout and two out of his forehead. Spiky, white hair began to grow from his head as he finally reached his full height and gave a mighty roar. "RIDGEMON!!!"

Grizzmon and I stood in awe and slight nervousness of the now massive digimon. He even dwarfed Greymon by a few feet.

**"Ridgemon, champion level dinosaur digimon. Virus attribute. Family: Dragon's Roar. Attacks: Shocking Strike, Lightning Blade, and Magma Blast, and Ridge Slash."**

Ridgemon looked at himself as he got a feel for his new body. "Did I just have a growth spurt?" Even in his new menacing form, he was still as oblivious as ever, which annoyed Grizzmon.

"You dummy! Don't you even know what digivolving is!?" Ridgemon shook his head, causing Grizzmon to mutter something under his breath that sounded a lot like 'stupid, huge dinosaur'.

Looking from Ridgemon to Grizzmon I had a sudden case of curiosity. "Grizzmon, how come you're not that big?"

Grizzmon's eyebrow twitched as he suppressed the urge to throw back to Serpentmon. "Because some digimon don't need to be massive, just really strong. Now can we please finish our fight with the snake. He's been standing there forever, waiting for us to finish."

"EH!?" shouted both me and Ridgemon as we turned in Serpentmon's direction. He had indeed stopped blowing on his tail and was looking at Ridgemon with slight interest.

"I remember you. That sssavage digimon from earlier. Thisss may be more of a challenge than I though." He gave a smug grin.

I faced forward with a fire in my eyes. "You may have gotten me earlier, but I'll fight you with no doubts in my heart and faith in myself. HENSHIN!!!"

Serpentmon flicked his tongue and slithered towards us as I donned my armor. "Fufufu. Take thisss!" **"SERPENT STRIKE!!!"**

Suddenly, a dozen aura snakes flew from Serpentmon's mouth and flew towards the three of us.

"You're nothing but a big meanie!" shouted Ridgemon with a new roughness to his voice. **"MAGMA BLAST!!!"** Ridgemon inhaled and a long stream of fire erupted from his mouth, colliding with the aura snakes just before they got to us. As the collision caused a small explosion I ran through the resulting smokescreen and aimed a punch at Serpentmon's face.

**"PHOENIX PUNCH!!!"** The flaming punch sailed right into his face and sent him flying painfully into the air."

Seeing an opening, Grizzmon ran out and jumped over Serpentmon. "You like throwing digimon into the ground huh? Well take this!" **"BUZZ CLAW!!!"** Grizzmon brought his now glowing claws down and slammed Serpentmon into the ground. He hit the ground with so much force that he bounced off of the ground, and gave a loud grunt as Ridgemon suddenly rolled into him with a cry of, **"RIDGE SLASH!!!"**, tearing into Serpentmon repeatedly with the ridged on his back.

Serpentmon skidded across the ground but got up slowly, blood all over him from taking that last attack from Ridgemon. "Thisss isss impossssible! None of you were thisss ssstrong before! How are you doing thisss!?"

Grizzmon ran forward and jumped into the air. **"CRECENT GRIZZLY SLASH!!!" **Grizzmon spun forward rapidly and flowed as he rammed into Serpentmon's chest. "You came here alone, didn't you Serpentmon. You wouldn't know anything about being on a team!" Grizzmon spun even faster and ripped through Serpentmon's chest. Despite Grizzmon's size, the hole wasn't that big, but could still be seen through.

"My turn!" shouted Ridgemon as he ran towards Serpentmon next. **"LIGHTNING BLADE!!!" **The blades on his elbows jutted out and began to spark with electricity as they connected with Serpentmon's tail. "We each have faith in ourselves that makes us stronger. But we also have faith in each other. That takes our strength to a whole new level!"

Serpentmon hissed and howled in pain as his tail was separated from the rest of his body. He lifted himself up on what little tail he had left and glared at the one who had yet to attack. Me. "Your digital petsss may have ssseverely injured me, but you're terrified of me! You're too afraid to finisssh the job!"

I looked down as I listened to his words. "You're right. I am still afraid of you." Serpentmon smirked in slight triumph, but his eyes widened in horror as I slowly raised my head and glared deeply into his eyes without a hint of fear in them. "But I just realized something. I have a friend back in the human world named Ashton. If I think about her then I can face just about anybody." I flapped my wings and took off towards him with my sword drawn. "I can fight you because even though I'm afraid of you, SHE'S THE ONE I FEAR MOST OF ALL!!!"

Both Grizzmon's and Ridgemon's jaws fell at my proclamation. "THAT'S THE REASON YOU CAN FIGHT HIM!?" they both shouted.

**"BLAZING SLASH!!!"** My sword burned with fire as it entered Serpentmon's skull and exited through the stub where his tail used to be, cutting him in half. With now dead eyes, Serpentmon's body dissolved into a digi-chip with an engraving of a mountain with a snake overlapping it. I bend down and picked it up. "Sovereign of earth, Serpentmon. Roasted." Out of pure exhaustion, I fell to the ground beside Ridgemon and Grizzmon.

As they reverted back to their rookie forms, my armor vanished in a flash of fire. As we all laid on the ground, too tired to even lift a finger, we all began to laugh.

…......................................

The shadowed figure watched with anger in his eyes as his brother was defeated by the digidestined. He may have considered Serpentmon a fool, but he was still a member of their brotherhood. He and the rest of the sovereigns sat in a moment of silence for their fallen brother.

"The digidestined will pay for this. I'll be the one to fight him next and I will avenge Serpentmon!" said the figure with six arms. All of the other figures nodded in agreement.

One of the figures in the back looked on with red eyes. There was something different about this digimon. His eyes were kind and held knowledge beyond his years. He had felt sorrow for the now fallen Serpentmon but he couldn't help but to give a small smile from his beak. He spoke softly to himself. "I knew he could beat Serpentmon."

**Kumamon: One sovereign down, over a dozen more to go.**

**Rexmon: This is gonna be a looooong journey, isn't it?**

**Me: Yes, but at least we won't have to worry about ole snakey anymore. I hated to type his speaking parts. Also, we'll make lots of new friends along the way. Afterall, we still have four more partners to find. **

**Kumamon and Ridgemon: Right! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. See you all in about a week. Please review.**


	15. Ship

**Kumamon: He's slacking off again. Two weeks? There's no way he's getting off that easily. I'll make him apologize to his readers for this.**

**Rexmon: You leave Stanley-mon alone. He's doing his best.**

**Kumamon: *gets in Rexmon's face* What did you say to me?**

**Rexmon: *starts shaking* I-I said leave him alone.**

**Kumamon: *raises a fist* Why I oughta-**

**Me: RIDER KICK!!! *Kicks Kumamon in the head with a flaming kick* Oi. You two are supposed to be partners. Kumamon you know better than that.**

**Kumamon: Gomen. It's just that you've kind of been slacking on your story again and it makes me mad.**

**Me: Still no excuse for taking it out on poor Rexmon. Is it because he's taller than you?**

**Kumamon: What the crap does that have to do with anything!?**

**Me: Oh nevermind. Anyway, how is everybody doing? Sorry for the absence. I have, again, had writer's block. I would like to thank BrokenAngel01 and Catching Rain for their great reviews. I'm still waiting on those reviews from everyone else though. Tell me what you guys think. Oh yeah. Catching Rain, I'm afraid of Ashton real life also. She can be scary when she's mad. Now this chapter is probably my shortest one, with it mostly being filler, but we do get a bit more into what the sovereigns are planning. I also forgot to mention that the setting for this is 2007. That was senior year of high school and also when I wrote this. And another note, there is a digimon I'm introducing in this chapter called Irukamon. Just so nobody gets confused Iruka is Japanese for dolphin, but don't get him confused with Dolpmon. Also, I have a little surprise at the end of this chapter. So read now, and tell me what you think later. **

**Rexmon: I wanna do the thingy.**

**Me: Go for it.**

**Kumamon: You suckup.**

**Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own Digimon, but we love him anyway.**

_"Yo, Stanley. What's been going on, bro?" said a voice I didn't expect to hear again for a long time._

_"Malcolm? W-what are you doing here?" I looked at my best friend who had suddenly appeared in the forest. Behind him were my other three friends: Ashton, Erica, and Shelby. What they were doing there was a mystery. I looked around on the ground, only to find that Kumamon and Rexmon were gone. _

_"Kumamon. Rexmon! Where are you guys!?" _

_"Don't worry. They're okay. But there's something you have to know." Shelby looked at me with a concerned look in her eye, and yet she seemed kind of distant. Now that I payed close attention, they all had somewhat distant looks on their faces._

_"Something I have know? What is it?" _

_Ashton was the next to speak. "You should know that you're going to die." I went wide-eyed as four shadows suddenly seemed to emerge from the ground behind each of my friends. "And then, we'll die too." _

_I tried to run out to them as the four shadows slowly raised a sharp claw each and then ripped my friends apart as they brought their claws down. _

_"NOOOOOO!!!_

_..........................................._

"NOOOOOO!!!" I shouted as I suddenly shot up into a sitting position. I held my forehead in my palms as I tried to shake the horrible images out of my memory. Then I noticed something. I was in a bed, a bed in Gabumon's clinic.

"How'd I get in here?"

"Stanley-mon!" came a familiar voice.

"What the? AHHH!!!" I screamed as a red raptor suddenly tackled me out of the bed and onto the floor, where he proceeded to give me the tickle torture by licking me in the face. "Ga! Rexmon, get off of me!" I gently pushed the raptor digimon off of me and stood up and the door to the room slowly opened.

"Yo. Nice to see that you're finally awake, you dummy." Kumamon leaned against the door frame with a smirk on his face.

"Um, guys? What happened back there? Didn't we beat Serpentmon?"

Kumamon smirk turned into a full blown grin. "Yup, we sure did. We beat a sovereign! But you passed out while we were all laughing. We weren't sure what was wrong with you so we brought you back here to Gabumon's clinic. You slept the rest of the day and all night."

"So it's morning then? So that makes about four days I've been in the digital world. I wonder if everyone is alright back in my world." I bit my lip as I remembered seeing my friends killed in the dream. My dream about the digimon turned out to be real. What does that say about the one I just had?

.........................................

I yawned loudly and stretched my arms as the three of us walked down the steps to the clinic part of Gabumon's house. Gabumon was making breakfast again, which got no complaints from me. We sat down and ate as Gabumon gave me a glass of orange juice.

"Ah. Thanks, Gabumon." I put the glass to my lips and down all of its contents in one go.

"Um, Stanley. I think you should know something," he suddenly said.

"Eh? What is it?"

"Have you ever broken your right arm or anything like that." He looked concerned for some reason.

"No, I've never broken anything. What's wrong?"

He sighed. "Well after your two digimon brought you back here, I examined your body to make sure you weren't injured. While one the outside you seemed to be unharmed, on the inside I found something strange."

Now I was concerned. "What exactly did you find?"

"Kumamon told me that Serpentmon slammed you into a tree." I cringed as I thought about that impact. "You may not have been aware of it at the time, but your arm broke in that impact."

"Wait, What? That's crazy. My whole body was hurting, but I had full use of every one of my limbs. There's no way it could've been broken."

Gabumon suddenly pulled out what looked like an x-ray and held it up in front of my face. On it was a picture of a bone with a crack in it, but it seemed like it had almost already healed up. "This is YOUR arm. I took this right after you all got back. Apparently your arm _was _broken, but amazingly it healed in a extremely short amount of time. Almost instantly."

I had a sudden vision of Wolverine from X-men. Damn that Hugh Jackman and his smexyness. "What exactly are you trying to say, Gabumon?"

"I think he's trying to say," Kumamon started. "That you've got accelerated healing"

My shoulders slumped. "Next thing you're gonna tell me is that I have indestructible, metal bones.

All three of them turned away from me.

"That's not funny at all!"

............................................

"So, Stanley. The only reason you were able to fight Serpentmon with no problems was because you're even more afraid of that human friend of yours?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you saw what she did to me the morning of the day I came here."

"You mean when she beat the crud out of you?"

"Yup"

Rexmon gave a loud yawn as his head sat in my lap. "So what do we do now?"

Kumamon couldn't help but grin. "Since we found you, we have to go and search for the other four now. But I'm not sure where to look. We don't have any clues now."

Rexmon sniffed and looked at the red digivice that now sat on the table. "That thingy is dancing."

"What?" said Kumamon and I at the same time. We both looked at the digivice, which was indeed _dancing_ as Rexmon so delicately put it. I picked up the vibrating digivice and looked at the screen.

"I have a text message?" With a raised eyebrow I read the contents aloud. "Head to the Warrior's Palace for the next phase of your journey. What the hell?"

"Does that happen a lot?" asked Rexmon as he tilted his head to the side.

Kumamon and I both shook our heads. It was the first time something like this had ever happened. "I get the feeling that is way more than coincidence, Stanley."

"I agree, but despite how suspicious it seems its all we have to go on for the time being. I can at least find where this place is." I held out the digivice at arm's length over the table. "Warrior's palace." At once, the 3 dimensional map appeared over the digivice for everyone to see. I had to hold back a sigh as Rexmon curiously poked it with his claw and started to giggle when it moved like jello. Even Gabumon came out from behind the counter to see what was going on.

"Looks like this place is north of here. But there's a problem. How in the heck do we get over all that crummy water?"

Kumamon's question was a good one. Warrior's Palace was on a whole other continent that was separated from this continent by what looked like a vast ocean.

"You've got a really good point. It's gonna be difficult to get across without transportation."

"I think I have an idea." Gabumon had been listening intently and from the knowing smirk he was giving, we were all pretty sure that he knew exactly what to do.

"There's a luxury liner that goes between this continent, the continent of Wood, and the continent north of us, the continent of Stone."

"Those continents sound like something from Naruto. Oh well, you seem to know about Stone. What's it like?"

Gabumon walked over to the far wall and pulled down what appeared to be an overhead map. He pointed to a large land mass. "This is the continent of Wood, where we are. It's geographical features are mostly forests and meadows."

"Which I've seen way too many of for one lifetime," remarked Kumamon.

Gabumon sent Kumamon a dirty look and cleared his throat. "Like I was saying, Wood is mostly forests and meadows, while Stone has more rocky terrain. While it does have some forests and meadows, it's mostly rocky terrain with a lot of mountain ranges and valleys. A lot of the digiworld's most famous landmarks are in Stone."

"So when does this ship leave?"

"This evening if I'm not mistaken. It's only late morning now so you've got a little while before before the ship leaves."

Kumamon pumped his fist in the air excitedly. "Yosh! Looks like we're going on a cruise!"

Rexmon gave a happy smile and I nodded. "Yay! Will we get to swim in the ocean?"

Kumamon looked at each other, remembering the incident when I fell in the river after that fight with Kuwagamon a couple of days before. "Um, I don't think that's such a good idea. They might have an on board swimming pool where you and Kumamon could probably swim though."

...........................................

"Has Shibamon left for Stone yet?" said a figure in the darkness. With him were six others, all hidden in the shadows.

A large, hulking figure with what looked like tentacles protruding from his back stood before him and bowed. "Yes, my brother. He left this morning and should be there within a few days."

The first figure rubbed his hand together in a pleased fashion. "Good. He is not a fool like Serpentmon was. I trust he can get the job done. I wonder what the digidestined wants in Stone though."

"Could it be possible that he knows the location of another one of his digimon?" said another of the figures.

"Yes, it is possible. And that would be most unfortunate for us. With the addition of that accursed dinosaur they have gotten even stronger. For every digimon they find, each of their individual strengths will increase. We cannot allow them to find anymore of their so called partners. We must destroy them before they become an even bigger nuisance than they already are!" He shouted the last part as he slammed his fist into a wall.

Another figure stepped into the little light there was in the room. He had mostly black armor with what looked like blood red eyes on various parts of his body. "My brother, if you allow me to I can go to Stone and be waiting for the digidestined just in case brother Shibamon fails," he said as he gave a slight bow.

"Very well, Duskmon. Take some of your troops and meet up with Shibamon at Stone. It's a shame brother Lucemon isn't around to go along too."

Duskmon looked down in though of the fallen angel. "Yes, it really is a shame. But Lucemon was sealed by Halsemon of Tempest Forest. He was a partner digimon of one of the previous digidestined."

"I'm aware of that you fool!" spat the figure. Duskmon cringed slightly, but it went unnoticed. "Anyway, head to Stone before I decide to end your pitiful existence right here and now. You may be my brother in arms, but I will not tolerate stupidity. Do not forget that." Duskmon gave a low bow as he seemed to flicker out of sight.

A door suddenly opened and the room was bathed in light. In the door way stood a humanoid digimon. "Did I miss something?"

"Heh, I'll say you did. Brother Poseidonmon just sent Duskmon to rendezvous with Shibamon. You and that infernal falcon are always missing our meetings. Speaking of that falcon, where is the kid this time?" asked a medium sized digimon with a cocky grin.

"Well, Sharkmon, I have no idea where he is. You might want to go look for him yourself."

Poseidonmon looked at the newcomer in annoyance. "Irukamon, you two are alike in many ways, so it's just natural that we would think he was with you. He is the youngest of us and he may look up to you as a mentor."'

The one known as Irukamon smirked. "I will admit that he does look up to me somewhat, but he is far more intelligent than any mon in this room. If he weren't so soft he could easily lead us. But alas, we have to follow Poseidonmon's orders for the time being." This caused Poseidonmon to scowl.

"You filthy pacifist! I should destroy you for your mockery!"

"It may be true that I'd rather take over the digital world using _less bloody_ methods, but that's only because I made a promise to a friend a long time ago. Don't get me wrong. I still want to take over the digital world, but I chose to do so while still being honorable about it."

Poseidonmon turned his head as he couldn't stand to look at his brother any long. "Feh. I still say you are a fool. Anyway, go look for our young ward."

Irukamon gave a bow and backed out of the room.

.....................................

Gabumon led us out of the forest and towards a dock on a nearby beach. Sitting in the water was a large luxury liner, just like he said it was. On the side of it, near the front deck was the name _S.S. Whamon._

"Whamon?" I asked.

"Oh, thats the name of a common species of digimon that roam the ocean. They are the powerful guardians of the waters and this ship was named after them in the hopes that it would also be powerful. They say this ship is unsinkable."

I started to grow a bit concerned. "I really don't like the sound of that. In my world, there was a ship that everyone called _unsinkable_."

"What happened to it?" asked Rexmon.

"It's been sitting on the the bottom of the Atlantic ocean for nearly a century. Hundreds of humans died that day. But now that I think about it, I can fly so I have nothing to worry about. You two, on the other hand." I pointed to Kumamon and Rexmon with a dark look in my eyes and a sinister smile on my face. "You two may not be so lucky."

"I don't think I want to go on the boat anymore, Stanley-mon."

"Yeah, I think I'm with the glutton on this one. Let's go back to Gabumon's place and take a nap."

The two of the started to back away from me, but I jumped forward and grabbed the both of them, hoisting them over my shoulders. "No way, you two chickens! You're coming with me and that's final!"

The two of them kicked and screamed as I pushed them on the ship against their will. I looked over edge of the ship and waved to Gabumon with a big smile on my face. I saw him point to my right, where Rexmon was just about to perform a cannonball off the ship. I quickly grabbed him and pulled him back onto to the ship just as Kumamon was about to do the same thing.

Gabumon couldn't help but smile. "They are very young, but I'm glad to have met them. May you have a safe journey, my friends." He looked back to where Kumamon and Rexmon had finally calmed down and were both waving at him as the ship began to move across the water, and eventually over the horizon.

**Rexmon: That was short. Stanley-mon, I think you need to digivolve the chapter and make it bigger.**

**Me: I wish I could boy, but that's all I could come up with this time.**

**Kumamon: Man, these sovereigns seem like they're bad news. Anyway, what was this surprise you were talking about?**

**Me: Um, I'm thinking of writing another fic.**

**Kumamon and Rexmon: WHAT!?**

**Rexmon: *starts crying* Why are you doing that? Haven't we been good to you?"**

**Kumamon: You dummy! How could you do this to us!?**

**Me: Calm down you idiots! Geez. I'm not quiting this fic. In fact I have two sequels planned for this story and maybe two prequels as well. But I just want to branch out a bit. This new story I'm talking about isn't a Digimon one though. I'm traveling to the Rider world.**

**Rexmon: You mean?**

**Me: Yes. This fic will be a Kamen Rider fic. And now for your surprise. A preview of my new fanfic: Kamen Rider Phoenix**

Ryou and May carefully stepped over the broken glass as they walked through the abandoned warehouse.

"I can't believe I got stuck hanging around with a weirdo like you. Why couldn't it be Nick? He would be much more usefull in a situation like this."

Ryou frowned at being told just how strange and useless he was. "I'm sorry I'm not cool like other people, but I couldn't just let you go in there alone. I mean, we saw a _monster_. I'm pretty sure you're not exactly in the safest place. Besides, Nick has other things to do right now. Such as homework, which is what we should be doing. Let's just go."

May stopped walking and got right in Ryou's face. "Listen, you coward. I'm not sure why Nick of all people talks to you, but I'm gonna tell you something right now. I don't like you. Nobody else likes you either. You're the joke of the college campus. You're always wearing all those heavy looking clothes and we can never see anything above your nose because of all that hair." Her hand suddenly shot out roughly moved Ryou's bangs from in front of his eyes.

"What are you doing!?" he shouted. He blinked as She didn't answer. She was staring at his eyes. "What is it?"

She was looking at him with a surprised expression on her face and her mouth slightly agape. "Wow, your eyes are beautiful." Indeed, she had expected to be cross-eyed, or have different colored eyes, but right now she was staring into the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen. They held a kindness not seen in most people.

"May, you're scaring me."

May suddenly snapped out of her trance and glared at him. "So maybe you have kinda cute eyes, but you're still a creepy weirdo."

"Gomen," Ryou said as his hair fell down again over his eyes.

They continued to search around the place and decided to split up. Ryou searched room after room, but all he found was more broken glass. He was about to give up and go to find May, but stopped in his tracks as he suddenly saw a light coming from a room down the hall. He tiptoed his way over to the door and carefully pushed it open.

He stuck his head in the door, but immediately wished he hadn't. This room had light, a bright one to be exact. Even with all the hair covering his eyes he still had to put his hand up in front of his face to block out the immense light that was currently blinding him. As his eyes got adjusted to the brightness of the room, he opened eyes little by little. This room seemed much newer than all the other one. The fact that it had light had been surprising enough. It was pure white a tall pedestal in the middle. As he slowly approached it, he noticed there was a dancing flame on top of it. As he reached out to touch it it suddenly turned into a high tech belt which fell to the floor in front of his feet.

"Woah! What was that?" He bent down and slowly picked up the belt. it was mostly red, with yellow flames etched in its surface. At what he thought was the front of the belt was an empty slot shaped like a pair of wings. "It seems like this is missing something."

"RYOU!!!" came a sudden scream. A second later sound akin to a bomb erupted through the entirety of the warehouse.

"May!" Ryou ran out of the room with belt in hand, unaware that something was now fluttering the air, right over his head.

**Me: So how is it?**

**Kumamon: Well, it seems okay. But there was no action. And he didn't even henshin yet.**

**Rexmon: There was no food, but it looks interesting. **

**Me: Well, Rexmon, I promise there will be food later on. As for you, Kumamon, this is only a preview, so I can't reveil too much. Besides, wouldn't want this to upstage the digimon chapter itself, would you?**

**Kumamon: I guess you have a good point there. Okay! I'm looking forward to reading this fic.**

**Me: That's better. Now expect this story to come out within the month and note that names may change before then since I haven't fully decided on names yet. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and my preview. Please review and let me know what you guys think about the new story idea. Laters.**


	16. Voyage

**Long time, no see everyone. I've been stressing over this chapter for nearly three weeks now and in the end it only turned out to be a few pages long. I feel a bit bad about that. Anyway, is there a bug going around for writer's block or something, cause my friends are getting it too. That plus "other troubles" equal a whole lot of staring at the computer screen while my mind is a complete blank. Someone tell me why God make women so confusing. Now on to more important matters. I actually got THREE reviews from the last chapter, two of them being from new readers. This excites me greatly, even though I didn't really get much feedback on the preview of my Kamen Rider story which is what I was really looking forward to:( But thanks to Catching Rain for her review and I think you should definitely check out a Kamen Rider series, just one for me. Agito is kinda old, but its one of my favorites. Now for my two new readers. Nibi, I appreciate you saying that I have the BEST digimon fanfic on the site. I'm sure that if I were able to blush then I would. But if you really wanna read the best digimon story go read BrokenAngel01's Following the Footsteps of Destiny. So much better than mine. Fourtress101, I'm so-what the crap!?**

**Rexmon: Where have you been Stanley-mon? **

**Me: Um, I've been around. Anyway, turns out you have a fan.**

**Rexmon: Me? A fan!? What did she say about me?**

**Me: Well she said that you were the cutest thing ever.**

**Rexmon: Really? *turns to the reader and waves* HI Fourtress101!!! Thank you for the compliment!**

**Me: Heh. My digimon are something else.**

**Kumamon: Yo Stanley. Did she say anything about me?**

**Me: *thinks* She said that it was funny how you interrupted Gabumon and that you were probably throwing your life away by doing so.**

**Kumamon: O.O You gotta be kidding me. That's it!? What about-**

**Me: Okay now that I've made my shoutouts it's time to get on with the chapter. Rexmon, the disclaimer if you please.**

**Kumamon: Matte! I'm cute too dammit!**

**Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own Digimon, but Fourtress101 can own me if she wants to. hee hee.**

A day had gone by since we left the port outside of Pyro City and the cruise was going by smoothly, for most of us anyway.

Rexmon slipped as he ran around the edge of the swimming pool that had been constructed on deck and fell in the pool.

"Geez, can't that kiwi-head keep it down. I don't feel very good." said Kumamon as he looked over the ship's edge.

I walked up and gave his shoulder a rub. "Yo, Kumamon. You feeling seasick?" He nodded. "I guess you don't travel much, do you?"

"Of course not. Before we started this journey I had never even been past Paper Forest. I'm over the whole 'this boat is probably gonna sink and we're all gonna drown' thing, but now the way the ship is rocking is making me feel really queasy." He suddenly held his paw to his mouth as the ship lurched forward. "Here it comes again." I cringed as he leaned his head over the railing and got reacquainted with his breakfast from earlier.

"I swear that if I didn't have such a strong stomach I would probably be doing that too." I handed him a towel that I had taken out of our cabin in case he started feeling sick again. "Maybe you should go back to the cabin for a while."

Kumamon whipped his mouth on the towel and then threw it to me to catch. I caught it without thinking. "I think I'll try your suggestion and head back to the cabin. Wanna come with me?"

I thought about it. There was actually a lot to do on deck. I could have went around and made friends with some of the many digimon that were playing shuffleboard or playing in the pool. "Well, I was thinking of hanging around here, but you probably need me in case you get sick in the cabin too."

"Maybe we should see if kiwi-head wants to come too." As he said that, Rexmon ran around the pool again and was starting to go up the ladder to the high dive. "Um, on second thought, maybe we should let him have his fun."

I thought about how much fun Rexmon was gonna have without us as I walked with Kumamon to the cabin. "Hey, Kumamon. Why do you call Rexmon 'Kiwi-head'?"

"Well I thought about calling him 'pineapple-head' but for some reason I felt like that had already been taken. By the way, you stink."

I looked at him. "What?" I sniffed around. "Oh man, what is that smell?" I looked down and saw the towel in my hands then threw it at Kumamon's head. "GROSS!!! IT'S ALL OVER MY HANDS!!!"

Kumamon ran around with the towel covering his head and face, screaming his head off. "GET IT OFF!!! GET IT OFF!!! GET IT OFF!!!"

.......................................

As the two of us ran towards our cabin screaming our heads off we unknowingly passed by two shady looking digimon. The two of them looked at each other and snickered.

"Yo-ho-ho. Lookie der at dos landlubbers, Swabmon. Dey can't handle da sea ta save their lives," said a short fish-like digimon with a red, pokadot bandanna wrapped around his head. He turned to his partner, a skeleton digimon wearing a very tattered sailor's uniform.

"Oi. I agree wit ya, Deckmon. But I don' think der da ones we need to help us find the ship's cargo. We need someone naive, gullible, trusting. We need someone. Someone like......" Swabmon looked up at the digimon climbing the high dive with a goofy grin on his face. "him."

........................................

All of the digimon clapped and cheered as Rexmon made it to the top of the high dive and inched over to the edge.

"Wow," he said with an awed look on his face. "This sure is high up. I wonder where Furry-mon and Stanley-mon are. I want them to see me." He looked over the edge of the diving board and put the tip of one of his claws in his mouth. "I bet I can make a really big splash!"

He backed up to the end of the board and prepared to make a running dive off, but in his haste he backed up to far and tumbled over the back of the diving board. All of the digimon watching began to gasp and scream in horror as he made a rapid descent toward the deck.

"STANLEY-MON!!! HEEEELP!!!"

Out of nowhere, two blurs appeared where he was and caught him. The crowd all gave a sigh of relief and clapped as the two blurs appeared on the side of the pool with Rexmon safely between them. Rexmon opened his now tightly clenched eyes and looked into the faces of his rescuers.

"Oi. Are ya alright, me matey?" said a fish looking digimon.

Rexmon looked at him and nodded as the two digimon put him down and he stared at them. "Where are Furry-mon and Stanley-mon? I wanted them to save me."

The two digimon in question shrugged their shoulders. "Don know who dey are, but we couldn just leave a fellow digimon to his demise, now could we?" said the skeleton digimon.

The fish digimon bowed his head. "Allow me ta intraduce ourselves. Me name is Deckmon. And me fleshly challenged partner here is called Swabmon." The skeleton digimon in question bowed as his name was called. Deckmon continued. "Well it seems like yer mates deserted ya."

Rexmon put his claw in his mouth and pouted. "They wouldn't really do that, would they?"

Sure he had only met his two partners the day before, but for some reason he felt like he could already trust those two with his life. He had grown in the wild, without the comfort of interacting with other digimon except for Gabumon every now and then, but he from the moment he had me Kumamon and Stanley he felt like he had found long lost family members. It seemed unreal that they would just leave him like that. And yet, they had been nowhere to be found when he was in danger.

"Maybe they did leave me," he said as his voice suddenly started to shake. Suddenly, he let loose an inhuman wail and began to bawl his yellow eyes out. "STANLEY-MON AND FURRY-MON LEFT ME!!!"

Swabmon and Deckmon looked at the scene with wide eyes as the raptor digimon let release two large streams of anime-like tears, one from each eye. "Um, yer sure dis is a good idea, right? I mean, he seems awfully attached to his maties," Swabmon whispered to Deckmon as they watched Rexmon's tears get even bigger every time he had to take a breath.

"Yah. This is a naive one we gots ere. He'll be perfect for da job, assumin we can git 'im to stop his blubberin'." The fish digimon walked over to Rexmon and put a _comforting _fin/hand on Rexmon's shoulder, making his crying stop. "Anyway, listen to me kid. Sometimes on da high seas ya can't trust nobody. Mon that ya think are ya friends turn on ye an ya end up relying on yerself. Now me and Deckmon. Oh we been sailin' da high seas for a long time now. Me and him has seen anything ya can think of. Now let me tell ya sumthin, youngin." He gently squeezed Rexmon's shoulder and Rexmon looked up at him. "We like ya. So how bout ya hang out wit us for a while?"

Rexmon looked back and forth between the fish digimon and the skeleton digimon, contemplating about going with them. To any other digimon, those two would have seen kind of shady, but Rexmon was not aware of such things since he grew up in the wild. But these two _had _saved his life. Maybe they were good digimon. Rexmon gave large smile and nodded. "Okay!"

"Good. Good," said Swabmon as he rubbed Rexmon's shoulder. When Rexmon turned his head away, Swabmon looked to Deckmon and gave him a nod of success.

"Now, since yer our new matie, wat's yer name youngster?" asked Deckmon.

The dinosaur digimon jumped into the air, with both arms and legs extended, and gave a squeaky shout. "REXMON!!!" Swabmon and Deckmon couldn't help but to sweat-drop at Rexmon's display of sudden gleefulness, but quickly recovered and clapped over-enthusiastically.

"Now dat yer one of us, we need yer help on a little," Deckmon paused as his face turned dark and he gave a evil grin. "Job."

"OKAY!!!" shouted Rexmon gleefully as he suddenly jumped onto Deckmon and began to lick his face.

"OI!!! Hahahaha! GIT OFFA ME!!!" he shouted. Swabmon looked in sheer horror as his partner was being licked to death. But instead of going in to help, he back away slightly and watched the show.

......................................

Irukamon walked calmly down the corridor as he continued his search for the youngest sovereign, turned his head every so often whenever he passed in front of an open door. "Damn that blasted bird. He's too curious for his own good, I can remember what it was like to be a young champion. Oh well." He rounded a corridor that led to the information room and entered it. Seated in a desk in front of a giant monitor sat a large, falcon digimon. Irukamon sighed in relief. "About time I found you, Takamon. Everyone was wondering where you were and sent me to look for you."

The digimon named Takamon turned around and smiled excitedly at Irukamon, like a child that had just done well in something. "Hello, Irukamon. I apologize for being so difficult to find. It's just that I was reading up on some of the digital world's history and studying some of its geographical features."

Irukamon smirked at the young falcon and sat down beside him. "Always studying something. I'm surprised there's any room left in that head of yours for anymore information." At this, Takamon stuck his tongue out of his beak at Irukamon. Irukamon couldn't help but to chuckle at the young digimon's antics. "Anyway, now that I've found you I can ask you a few things."

Takamon looked at Irukamon curiously. "Like what?"

"Mostly statistics. Poseidonmon sent Shibamon out earlier to destroy the digidestined before or when they reach Stone. And Duskmon offered to accompany him just in case. They each took a few troops too. So what are our chances of victory this time?"

Takamon looked at the computer as his mind seemed to process ten things at once. "Well there are a lot of probabilities. With Serpentmon's defeat, the revenge factor comes into play. Wanting to avenge their fallen comrade would probably make them fight harder. On the other hand, if that happened more than likely they will also lose themselves to anger. Next, those two are stronger than Serpentmon and neither one of them are conceited enough to let him get away. If they work together, like one would expect, I estimate that the chances of victory are about eighty-seven percent. But,"

"But what?" asked Irukamon.

"Well, we all know that Shibamon doesn't exactly work well with others. He likes to accomplish things on his own to test his strength, unlike Serpentmon who just thought he was the strongest digimon alive. More than likely he would set Duskmon aside and fight on his own. If he were to fight on his own his chances would only be about sixty-three percent. Now, we also have to take the digidestined into account. With their newest edition, Rexmon, they have indeed gotten stronger. But the thing is that since he's only just joined the group there may be times where they don't get along or may have trust/teamwork issues. Odds of them having internal conflicts within the next few days are ninety-five percent. If they were to not have their problems solved by the time they met our brothers our chances of victory are extremely high. But they could probably put aside their differences before then. But that Stanley human, he's quite the human." he said in adoration.

Irukamon raised an eyebrow at the young digimon. "It almost sounds like you're praising him. I will admit, for a human he is quite interesting. But you actually sound happy when you talk about him."

Takamon hung his head down to avoid Irukamon's gaze. "Well the thing is that I've been reading about humans for a long time and I've always wanted to meet one. But this human is _different_ from the normal humans I've read about. His powers throw everything I ever thought I knew about human out of the water and I can't predict what he does. I wish I could learn more about him!" he said excitedly.

"Your youthful enthusiasm is quite heartening at times, but this is a different story. You know our mission is to kill the human child, not to study him."

Takamon suddenly stood up and looked Irukamon right in the eyes. "But why do we have to kill him? Why do we even want to take over the digital world? I mean," he started to shake his head in disbelief. "As sovereigns, isn't it our mission to _protect _the digital world? What exactly happened here!?"

Irukamon suddenly put a hand on Takamon's shoulder and squeezed tightly, giving the latter digimon some slight discomfort. "There are things that aren't meant to be understood. This being one of them. Now put all of those factors into account and come up with the most likely probability rate so I may report it to Poseidonmon."

Takamon turned his head in defeat and did some calculations in his head. "Putting all of these into account, the real chance of victory is fifty-five percent."

Irukamon let go of Takamon's shoulder and nodded. "Not very high, but its the best we can do right now. I'll go and let Poseidonmon know. You keep doing your reading." Takamon nodded and went back to his seat as Irukamon left the room. Once outside of the room, he spoke quietly to himself. "That digimon's eyes are full of curiosity and kindness. So much like _your _eyes, my old friend."

Inside the room, Takamon was again looking over the geography of the digital world on the large screen. "Well, Stone is mostly covered my mountains. This is boring now. Wait." He paused as he caught a glimpse of a large island just north of stone. "File Island? I've never heard of that place. Let's see what it's like." He pressed a button with the end of his wing and got a more detailed view of the island. What he saw was that there was tall mountain in the middle of the island. "This is........."

...................................

Deckmon, Rexmon, and Swabmon carefully rounded a corner as the guards on the lower levels of the ship were taking a break.

"Playing pirates is fun!" giggled Rexmon happily as Swabmon and Deckmon suddenly put their hands over his mouth.

"Shhhhh! If ya wanna _play _pirates, den ya gotta be quiet as a Chuumon." Rexmon quickly calmed down and nodded vigorously.

"So what was the point of the game again?" he asked.

Swabmon and Deckmon both slapped their hands to their foreheads in annoyance. "For da last time, we are lookin for _buried treasure_." said Deckmon with a sinister grin on his face.

**That pirate speech was kinda hard to write, but I'm glad it worked out. If there were _any_ of you that were interested in my Kamen Rider story it should be up by tomorrow night.**

**Rexmon: Those two guys seem fun.**

**Me: Rexmon, you must not know much about pirates.**

**Rexmon: What's a pirate?**

**Me: Nevermind. Kumamon, how you holdin' up?**

**Kumamon: How come nobody thinks I'm cute?**

**Me: *rolls eyes* Kumamon, you already have a fan and her name is Broken Angel01.**

**Kumamon: Oh, that's right!**

**Me: Baka. How could you forget about someone like her? Anyway, hopefully this will be the last time I take so long to put a chapter up, but stuff happens so we'll see. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and give me some good reviews. Laters.**


	17. Treasure

**Wow. It's been nearly four weeks since I've posted anything. Sorry for the wait everyone, but I decided to take a short break from writing and read some fanfics instead. For anybody still interested in my Kamen Rider fic, um, I'm still working on that. On a more related note, thank you fourtress 101 for giving me my longest review ever. I had a huge grin on my face the entire time I was reading it and I even posted it on my facebook. Nibi, I'm still wondering who you are exactly on this site since you signed you review for chapter 15 so I can read some of your stuff. BrokenAngel and Catching Rain, I know you two are probably busy so please take your time with reading and reviewing. Marc Bailey, I noticed you added my story as one of your favorites so I'd be happy to hear from you, or any of my other readers that have yet to make themselves known. Anyway, I'm back in the game! This is a pretty short chapter, but it's at least longer than the last one. Please have fun as Rexmon plays pirates with a couple of pirates. And also, uh-oh.**

**Kumamon: Kisama! Where have you been!?**

**Me: Oh crap! *runs away***

**Kumamon: Get back here you teme! **

**Rexmon: That looks fun. I want to play too!**

**Me: The whole world is after my head! Somebody do my disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own digimon. How many times do I have to tell you all that?**

The three digimon crept lower and lower into the depths of the ship as they continued to _play_ pirates.

"Hey, guys. What's the point of this game anyway?" asked Rexmon as his two new friends peeked around the corner they were currently at.

The two of them looked at each other and then at the raptor digimon. "Well, me hearty," started Deckmon. "We be after _buried treasure_ that lies somewhere on this ship. And we need _your _help to get it."

Rexmon's eyes widened in amazement. "Really? You need MY help?" The fish and skeleton digimon nodded as Rexmon smiled. "Okay then. What do I have to do?"

Swabmon opened his mouth to speak, but was suddenly startled by a loud beeping noise coming from nearby, along with Deckmon and Rexmon.

"Oi! What be that annoyin racket?" Deckmon yelled as Swabmon starting to pat his body down, looking for something.

Swabmon suddenly pulled out some kind of tool from within his tattered uniform and the loud sound ceased immediately. "Sorry. Da two a ya stay here while I go and check dis out." He backed up a few yards to where he was out of earshot, although Deckmon knew exactly what that was. Swabmon put the tool to his ear and spoke into it. "This be Swabmon speaking. Swabmon to da Captain."

"I ear ya loud an clear me hearty. 'Ave you an Deckmon succeeded in boardin da vessel?"

"Aye aye, Captain Kaizokumon. We ave managed to board the ship and are now on the lower levels searching for the treasure as we speak."

"Aye, dat be good work. Our ship will be inbound in a hour. 'Ave the treasure by then."

"Aye aye. But what if we don' 'ave it by den?"

A sinister chuckle could be heard through the tool. "Den we will board the vessel ourselves an take it by force." The chuckle turned into full blown laughter before the line went dead and Swabmon tucked the tool back into his uniform and walked back to his two cohorts.

Deckmon looked at him with a curious look on his face. "So how long do we 'ave?"

"We 'ave an hour left to play dis game before other maties come dat may want ta play. Come on, _Chompers. _Let's find us some buried treasure bafore da others come an spoil da game."

Rexmon gave a happy grin at his new nickname and followed the two digimon deeper into the bows of the ship.

…................................

Not far from the S.S. Whamon was another ship. But unlike the Whamon, this ship wasn't for luxury. Its large exterior was made from black maple wood planks. Near the top were large, square shaped hole, a large cannon inside each one. On top of the ship stood numerous poles held flags and sails of various sizes that fluttered through the wind. The largest of which sported an enormous skull and crossbones, the symbol of a pirate ship. Various digimon could be seen around the entirety of the ship, doing many various things. They were all Swabmon and Deckmon, but there was one other digimon. He was tall, humanoid in shape. He wore a majestic looking red coat and hat, but his face couldn't be seen, if he even had a face, because of a thick black beard and mustache that covered up where his face should have been. A single red eye could be seen poking through though. He gave a sinister chuckle as he turned to his crew.

"Oi, you lowlifes! Turn da rudders ta port an prepare ta sail!" He turned back forward and put his arms behind his back. "Fufufufu. The nemesis cannon will be mine, one way or another."

…...................................

"Where's Rexmon? I coulda sworn he was here when we left." I said as I walked around the pool area. Kumamon was feeling much better now that he had some rest and was helping to find our lost comrade.

"AHHH! WHERE THE HECK IS HE!? I SWEAR, WHEN I FIND HIM I'M GONNA KILL HIM!!!"

I gave Kumamon a look as he fumed about not being able to find his new source of annoyance, but I could tell he was just as worried as I was. "Kumamon, let's just ask somebody if they've seen him. He was pretty popular around here when we left."

Kumamon jutted the left side of his jaw out and showed one of his lower canines. "Yea yea. Let's just find him quick." I nodded and we walked over to a random digimon.

…....................................

"Aye der, Chompers. We be close to da treasure," said Deckmon as they turned another corner.

Rexmon started to whine as they had been just walking around for about an hour. Despite how excited he seemed to be, he actually got bored very easily. Growing up in the wild, Rexmon had to fight numerous battles just to survive. Rexmon was mon of action and when he got bored, he got impatient. VERY impatient.

"Let's play a new game!"

The two pirate digimon turned around and looked at their new partner in crime with questioning looks on their face. "WHAT!?"

Rexmon pouted. "I said 'let's play a new game'. This one is making me bored."

Swabmon and Deckmon looked flabbergasted. "What!? Ya can' quit now! We've almost won!"

"Aye, he's right! Just a bit longer den we can play a new game. I promise." said Swabmon.

Rexmon eyed the two digimon carefully. Any other digimon would have noticed that these two seemed rather desperate to finish the game and would have found that suspicious. Unfortunately, Rexmon was an exception. "Okay, we'll finish the game!" he suddenly said with a smile on his face. The others nearly fell from the randomness of it, but quickly caught themselves.

"Okay," said Deckmon while catching his breath, "we're really close to da treasure now." He looked around the corner and saw two guard digimon watching the area. "Dose guards are gonna be a problem tho. We should probably wait 'til dey- CHOMPERS!!!"

Rexmon bolted around the corner and ran down the hallway towards the guards. The two guards both turned around only to be speared into the wall, rendered unconscious. Rexmon turned back around to Swabmon and Deckmon. "Hey! I knocked out the guard thingys. Can we go find the treasure now?"

Swabmon slid a boney hand down his skinless face as the two of them walked up to the unconscious guards. "Great job, chompers. Now we 'ave witnesses."

"Looks like we'll 'ave ta take em out. Oh well." The two of them made motions to start an attack, but Rexmon suddenly stood in front of them. "What are you doing chompers? Git out of our way!"

Rexmon didn't budge, he just looked at the two with a confused, pleading look. "Isn't this a game? Why are you trying to make the two digimon 'go bye bye' for real?"

The two pirate digimon looked at one another, unsure of what to do. Even Rexmon could tell that there was something wrong with this picture. They could just kill the digimon anyway, but they needed Rexmon to get the treasure from the ship. With no other option they lowered their arms and turned to Rexmon.

"Sorry der, kiddo. We just got caught up in da game is all. Nothin ta worry about. Now let's go find da treasure." The three of them ran down the corridors carefully, all the while Swabmon and Deckmon were whispering to one another.

"Dat was a close one"

"I agree. We were told ta kill anybody dat saw us by Captain Kaizokumon."

Deckmon looked ahead to Rexmon's back. "Aye, dos dat mean dat we 'ave to kill chompers too?" he asked with a bit of apprehension in his voice.

"Unfortunately it dos. A real shame too. I'm startin ta like da mon. By da way, if da kid is leadin us, den where are we goin? We're da ones dat knows where da treasure is."

They all stopped when they ran across a bright, red light coming from the end of the hallway. As they got closer, they could see that it was a room filled with laser crossings. The jaws of Swabmon and Deckmon dropped straight to the floor. They had done a lot of plundering, but never in their beings had they seen such intricately placed laser traps.

"Well, I'm guessin we found da room, but how in da name of digicode did ya find it, Chompers?"

Rexmon simply pointed on of his claws to his nose. "I smelled it."

The two digimon couldn't help but chuckle. "Ya got quite da nose der. But now dat we found the place, we 'ave to git past all da laser defenses."

"You mean the pretty lights?" asked Rexmon as he stood in front of one with the tip of his claws in his mouth.

The two digimon weren't paying full attention though. They were wondering how they were going to get past all the lasers. "Yeah, da pretty lights." Then they noticed that Rexmon was trying to poke the laser in front of him out of curiosity. "WHOA DER!!!" they both shouted as they pulled Rexmon back.

"What? Did I do something bad?"

Swabmon and Deckmon sighed as they had just avoided an alarm from sounding and their whole mission being compromised. "Yes, Chompers. Wat ya did was almost very bad. Don' touch the lasers!" Deckmon said that last part more out of exasperation than anger, but Rexmon, not knowing the difference, saw it as anger.

The raptor digimon started to tear up and eventually went into a full blown wail as he started to cry fountains from his eyes.

….....................................

"Still no luck, Kumamon?"

"All I'm getting from anyone is that he fell from the high dive and was saved at the last minute by some blur. Nobody saw him again after that. This is getting troublesome."

I looked back to the high dive and bit my bottom lip in regret. "I can't believe he fell off the high dive. If that blur hadn't saved him then he would've most likely died since me and you weren't around at the time."

I nearly jumped as I felt a furry paw rest itself on my shoulder. "Don't worry so much about it. That digimon was raised in the wild. Considering how goofy and clumsy he is I bet he's fallen out of a bunch of trees. Besides, if he had kept falling I bet he woulda gone feral at the last minute and landed on his feet no problem."

I raised an eyebrow at his theory. "You sure about that? It seems like you like him all of a sudden."

Kumamon quickly went into 'Kuma-teme' mode with his arms crossed and giving off an annoyed expression. "Bah, like I could ever like that annoying mon."

I couldn't help but smile at Kumamon's sudden change of attitude, but then his eyes went wide and his ears twitched slightly. "What the?"

I looked at him curiously. "Whats wrong with you, Kumamon?"

"Shut up!" I immediately shut up as he cupped his ears. "I hear.....crying?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Crying?"

"Correction. An _annoying_ crying."

I knew exactly what he meant by that. "We have to follow that crying. Now!"

"On it." He ran into the interior of the ship as he followed the sound of what we knew was Rexmon's crying.

…...............................

Rexmon's crying got louder and louder as the seconds seemed to go by. If it kept up, at this rate there were going to be guards coming there any second. They had to get him to calm down.

"Oy! Cease yer cryin. I didn' mean ta yell at ya. Yer just not 'spose ta touch da laser. If ya do, it'll alert more guards dat we're here and they'll stop our game."

Rexmon slowly calmed down and stopped crying. "Will they really?"

The two digimon nodded. "I 'ave an idea. Let's play a new game," said Swabmon.

Rexmon got really excited as his tail start swaying from side to side. "Really!? What's it called?"

"Spies."

…...........................

I ran into and tripped over Kumamon as he stopped in front of me. "Why'd you stop?" I asked in a daze.

Kumamon growled in anger. "Crud! He stopped crying. But he's definitely down here somewhere. Now get off your butt and let's go."

….............................

"Spies? What's that?" Rexmon asked with his now official curious pose.

"Well, first we 'ave to git past all those lasers to da other side of da room, without touchin ANY of da lasers. It'll be tricky tho. I've never seen a laser defense system so intricately and delicately put together. If one of us could git over to da other side there should be a switch dat turns all da lasers off. But there's no way any of us could git past all dis. It's nothing but a treat to our game."

At the word 'threat' Rexmon's once wide, curious eyes grew narrow and ferocious. Rexmon had gone feral. He gave a deep growl as he turned to face the lasers. Swabmon and Deckmon stared at the raptor digimon, sensing the change within him but not knowing exactly what was going on.

"Oy! What be wrong wit ya, Chompers?"

He didn't respond. He only bolted right towards the lasers as Swabmon and Deckmon screamed for him to stop. But he didn't stop. He jumped over the first laser that he tried to poke earlier and kept going. He began to duck and dodge lasers in insane speed. Twisting, turning, using his tail as a brake in case he was going too fast to stop, running along and bouncing off the walls, he evaded lasers like he was a natural born cat burgler. He made it all the way to the other side of the room with so much as getting close to a laser and used his tail to slam the off button with authority as he skidded to a halt.

The two digimon near the entrance felt their jaws hit the floor yet again as their eyes bulged to the size of basketballs at the absolutely incredible sight they had just witnessed. Not only had Rexmon gotten through the most difficult looking defense system they had ever seen, he had also made it look easy and like a work of beautiful art. As the two picked up their jaw and slapped their eyes back into their sockets they start to clap and shed tears at the sheer beauty of his agility. Rexmon just snorted and a small billow of gray smoke blew up from his nostril.

The two of them ran to the other side of the room patted Rexmon. He growled at them in his feral state, making them back away slightly, but didn't attack. They looked up to a very thick looking iron vault.

"The treasure is in this room. But it's not scheduled to open until we get to the port in Stone or unless we have a password. But there is a third way to open it." Swabmon stepped out of the way as his fishy comrade stepped up.

**"ACID BATH!!!" **He opened his mouth and out of it came a stream of acid that hit the center of the vault, melting a hole right through it.

After the acid had died down and the hole was big enough to walk through they hopped through and enter the vault. In the center of the room within the vault was a large cannon-like structure. At the site of it, Rexmon had gone back into curious mode and started to stare at it. "Is that the treasure?"

The two digimon nodded. "Yes, dis is da treasure we so adamantly searched for. A cannon made from da armor of a truly evil digimon dat was defeated in da last digital war. The Nemesis Cannon."

As Rexmon continued to stare at it he felt an evil presence coming from within the confines of the cannon. "I smell something bad."

..............................

The two of us stopped as we came across two guards that had been rendered unconscious.

"Stanley?"

"Yeah, Kumamon?"

"I got a bad feeling about this."

**Kinda short, I know. But that pirate talk is hard to do. Anyway, Halloween is right around the corner so everybody be sure to get good costumes before they're all gone and get lots of candy.**

**Kumamon: You're 20 years old. Aren't you too old for candy?**

**Me: Hell no! You're never too old for free Candy!**

**Rexmon: *pops out of nowhere* Candy! Where!?**

**Kumamon and me both: Where the hell did you come from!?**

**Rexmon: I'm a spy. If I told you I would have to kill you.**

**Kumamon: Stanley, why'd you do it? You just had to turn him into a spy, didn't you?**

**Me: I didn't know he'd take it seriously.**

**Rexmon: *Holds his arm like a gun and pretends to shoot people* **

**Kumamon: This is getting weird. Ready to go?**

**Me: Yup. Next Chapter: Questions arise about the nemesis cannon. Just what exactly is it? Thank you for reading and don't forget to leave your reviews on the desk on your way out. Laters.**


	18. Boarded

**Hello to all of my faithful readers. I've finally come up with a system that allows me to get chapters done faster so that I can have more frequent updates. Basically I just work on it bit by bit everyday, as apposed to doing it all in one day and not wanting to look again for about a week. Anyway thank you to Fourtress 101 for reviewing so quickly after I put the last chapter up and to my other normal reviewers, just review as soon as you're able to. No hurry. Anyway I was checking the stats for this story the other day I noticed that over the past few months I've had a total of at least 500 hits. If I've got that many people reading the story at one point of another, then why do I only have 19 reviews? Come on guys, makes yourselves known. I promise I don't bite, unless you flame. And if any of you read this because of a girl named Rachael or don't have an account, then you should review anyway. You don't have to be a member of this site to review. So now that that's taken care of, lets get back to the main even.**

**Kumamon: Oh no you don't!**

**Oh crap! You again! *backs away as Kumamon comes closer* Stay away!**

**Kumamon: -slaps me in the back of the head- Calm down you idiot! I wasn't gonna hurt you.**

**You're not?**

**Kumamon: Nope. I was just gonna say that I'm surprised you only took two weeks this time to get a chapter out. So should we expect more frequent updates?**

**Kumamon, I said that earlier. Hey. *looks around* Where's Rexmon?**

**Kumamon: Um, he's still playing spy.**

**Still!? Wait, there he is now. Oh man. *sweatdrops as Rexmon enters the scene, holding his claw in his other claw like a gun***

**Kumamon: Kiwi-head, what are you doing?**

**Rexmon: My name is Mon, Rex Mon.**

***slaps my forehead* You've got to be kidding me. Somebody do the disclaimer before I fry me some lizard.**

**Rexmon: I'LL DO IT!!!**

**Kumamon and I both: NOOOOOO!!!**

**Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own digimon. Now stay still, or I'll shoot you with my invisible gun. Heehee!**

The three digimon stared in hushed awe at the massive weapon standing in front of them. Swabmon took his skeletal hand and rubbed it against the surface of the cannon.

"The Nemesis Cannon. We actually found it."

"Yeah. But how are we gonna git it all da way to da top of da ship? Dis thing is massive. Way too much for da likes of us ta carry."

Indeed, the Nemesis Cannon was a weapon of evil might. It seemed to be made from some remains of a some defeated digimon that was defeated in battle. It was made out of most of the digimon's upper body and sat on what looked like two purple tank tracks. The part of his wings that was once behind his head was brought forward and down to fit snugly into what used to be his shoulders, as the digimon's head, torso, and lower body seemed to have been completely obliterated The wings that went over the shoulders were now pointed backward and concealed what used to be his arms, that could be used for close ranged combat. The part that was between the shoulders was now fitted into a cockpit for someone to pilot the cannon. It looked to be only a tad bit bigger than a normal, human tank.

Swabmon waved a hand as if to wave away Deckmon's worries and pulled out the same device from before. "Don' worry about it, me heartie. I got dis all figured out."

They were so in awe of the mere sight of the cannon that they didn't notice a faint black mist that seemed to surround it. Nor did they notice Rexmon's low, instinctual growl.

..........

Up on the deck of the ship, the S.S. Whamon sailed just off the coast of a beautiful island. Little did they know that just around the bend, something dark and dangerous was waiting to consume all of the joy and laughter that occurring on the ship.

..........

The pirate lord, Kaizokumon peered out into the area where the cruise ship was expected to pass as a random Swabmon with a peg leg walked over to him with what looked like an old fashioned telephone.

"Aye, what be it?" he asked with a mad gleam in his eye that made the poor Swabmon's bones chatter.

"Um, well sir, it be our two operatives we sent on the ship."

Kaizokumon seemed intrigued by this as he raised an eyebrow in a curious fashion. "I see. Well let's hope dey have good news. Otherwise, instead of paintin' da skull and crossbones on da flag, we're gonna use da real deal!"

The Swabmon practically tossed the telephone into Kaizokumon's arms as he took off down the deck, screaming his non-existent lungs out. Kaizokumon could only look on in mad glee. Oh how he loved to torment his inferiors. He took the speaker part of the phone and put it to where his ear was supposed to be.

"Aye, dis be da captain. First mate and second mate, Swabmon and Deckmon, please report. Or else." he finished with a menacing growl. On the other side of the line, the familiar chatter of bones could be heard, making Kaizokumon's expression even more like a happy madman.

_"Um, um, first and second mates, Swabmon and Deckmon reportin' in sir. I've contacted you to inform ya dat we 'ave found da Nemesis Cannon as you ordered. And captain, she's a beaut."_

Kaizokumon's expression would've made a human think that Christmas had come early. "Fine work from da two of ya! Now dat ya found it, go accordin' ta plan about getting' it to da outside. And remember, **don't fail me.**" He said the last part in a low, threatening manner that promised torture and pain if they did indeed fail.

Swabmon seemed to be quite afraid, as his teeth could be heard chattering from the other end of the line, along with every bone that made up his body. _"Y-yes, sir! We won't fail ya. And will ya be boardin da ship?"_

Although he couldn't _see_ it, he could practically _feel_ his captain's smirk pierce through his very being through the phone.

"Aye, matie, I could use a new ship and a few new _labor workers_. Makes sure nobody stops you and we'll meet you in a click."

_"Aye aye, sir!" _and with that the line clicked, signifying that conversation was over and that it was time to commence stage 2 of Kaizokumon's plan. He turned to the dozens of workers he had running around and cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ahem," he started off calmly, but got no response as the workers were too wrapped up in their chores to hear him. "Ahem!" he said it again, louder this time. But like the last time, he got no one's attention. His lone, visible eye grew wider with anger as his hair started to spike up. "LISTEN HERE YOU BLOODY LANDLUBBERS!!! PREPARE TO INTERCEPT AND BOARD THAT SHIP, OR THE NEXT ONE THAT BREATHES WITHOUT MY SAYSO WILL INCUR WRATH WORTHY OF THE DARK AREA ITSELF!!!"

With that, every single digimon snapped to attention, some going red faced from suddenly holding their breath. Kaizokumon smiled in mock admiration. "Dat's better. Now. Let get some booty."

..........

The passengers aboard the S.S. Whamon were not expecting what happened next as the ship passed a rocky cliff of the island to their starboard side. A large pirate ship seemingly just popped into existence as it came out from behind the other side of the island and nearly plowed into the side of the ship, only to veer off its collision course at the very last minute.

The screams of the passengers quieted down and soon turned to looks of confusion. What exactly was a pirate ship doing in this neck of the digital world? The ocean between the continents of Wood and Stone were not known to harbor such nefarious types of digimon. A lot of them started to think that maybe it was just another luxury liner dressed up as a pirate ship for maybe more adventurous sailors. But those confused looks soon took on looks of caution as the 'pirate ship' seemed to straighten up and sail along side them, at an abnormally close distance. Those that were thinking that it was a possible joke soon changed their minds as a yell was heard from the other ship.

"AYE, MATIES!!! PREPARE TA BOARD!!!" Several dozen "aye aye, captain"s could be heard afterwards. The passengers were caught off guard as the ship suddenly lurched starboard and bumped up hard against the ship.

...........

Kumamon and I tumbled over each other as the ship suddenly shifted and we were thrown to the ground. I sat up and rubbed the back of my head as the ship seemed to stabilize.

"Ugh. What the hell just happened?" I looked over to Kumamon, who wasn't having much more luck than I was holding himself up, and expected an answer. But only thing I got was the sight of Kumamon's furry face turning green and his paws suddenly going over his mouth.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick again!" He had no time to say anything else as he suddenly brought the contents of his stomach back to the surface. I wanted to turn away from the gruesome sight, but couldn't, for I saw food I never thought would come up.

"Is-is that a whole turkey?"

Kumamon turned to me shaking and annoyed as he wiped his mouth with his paw. "Yeah, so what if it is?"

"That turkey is from the feast as Paper Town, FOUR DAYS AGO!!!"

...........

Deckmon and Rexmon both had a death grip on Swabmon and he hung on to the Nemesis Cannon for dear life as the ship felt like it had collided with something. Rexmon's eyes went wide in wonder and confusion, but Swabmon and Deckmon's eyes went wide for a different reason.

"I guess dis is da start of phase two," Deckmon started. "But I didn' think he would be gettin on the ship dis way."

Swabmon nodded in agreement. "Aye, my comrade. He probably woulda killed us if we didn' have dis bloody thing ta hold on ta."

Rexmon only looked at the two in even more confusion and they all let go of whatever they were holding onto. "Huh, is the game over?" he said in his squeaky voice.

The two pirate digimon looked at each other and then back to Rexmon, with a small hint of sadness on their faces.

"Aye, Chompers. Ya won da game in a mighty fine fashion. Dis," Swabmon patted the tank turret in admiration, "is what da point of da game us. The treasure."

Rexmon sniffed at the weapon, but only got the same feeling he got before. His pupils reverted into slits as he stood low to the ground, a low rumble escaping his throat. "This thing. It's not nice." The two digimon could only close their eyes as they both knew it was time for their "game" to end.

Deckmon suddenly opened his mouth and cried out. **"ACID BATH!!!"**

Rexmon's confused look suddenly turned to one of surprise as he barely had time to dodge the fish digimon's attack. As he rolled to a stop he looked up to see the two digimon climb up the Nemesis Cannon and into its cockpit. "W-what's going on!?"

The two waved down to him with evil grins on their faces. "OI, MATIE!!! SORRY TA BUST YA BUBBLE, WE WEREN' JUST PLAYIN PIRATE!!!"

"YEAH!!! TURNS OUT WE'RE ACTUAL PIRATES AND WE CAME ON DIS SHIP TO FIND DIS CANNON!!!"

Rexmon could only stare up at them in disbelief. First his two partners had deserted him and now this. "W-why!?"

The two of them looked down to him again as they started up the cannon's controls. "AYE, WE NEEDED A DIGIMON TO 'ELP US FIND IT!!! BUT WE COULDN' JUST USE ANY MON. NO, WE NEEDED A SPECIAL ONE. A MON STUPID, GULLIBLE, AND NAIVE ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY BELIEVE US!!! AND NOW THAT WE HAVE THE CANNON, WE DON'T NEED YOU ANYMORE!!! SO SORRY!!!"

And with that they two revved the Nemesis Cannon up and it started to slowly move. Time had given the weapon some creaks and wear, but that would soon be adjusted as the cannon was shifted into high gear and rammed through the small hole that they entered through earlier, making it bigger, but not before Rexmon had leaped up and grabbed onto a metal bar in the back that was part of a metal ladder.

With the security system cut off beforehand, they didn't waste any time in speeding down the wide hallways that led back up to the surface of the ship. Little did they know that they had just passed two smaller creatures that had barely avoided being run over by it.

"Kumamon, what in the world was that?" I asked as I practically hugged the wall.

Kumamon breathed hard as he had screamed when the tank-like structure same towards him before, but his eyes suddenly widened in realization.

"The Nemesis Cannon!? But I thought it was dismantled after the last digital war was over."

"The Nemesis what!?"

Before Kumamon could answer me, he saw a figure on the back of the cannon, hanging on for dear life. "Stanley, do you see what I'm seeing?"

I had seen it too and didn't waste any time in chasing after it. We both couldn't help but yell out at luck we were having today. "REXMON GET BACK HERE!!!"

..............

Up on the top of the deck, the passengers put up very little resistance as they were put in shackles and transferred to Kaizokumon's ship. Judging by the way his beard had shifted upwards he appeared to be pleased with the way the heist had turned out so far.

"Ah. Nothin' like a successful plunder ta make ya fell all tingly inside. Now all we need is da gold medal an we'll be set to sail. Speakin of dat."

He picked up the communication device that he used previously and contacted his two operatives to learn of their progress. The line clicked and a voice could be heard over what sounded like a loud, rumbling sound.

_"Oi, Captain! Sumthin musta hit da ship earlier. I'll wager a guess an say dat you had sumthin ta do with it."_

Kaizokumon could only smirk a bit. He tended to be a bit flashy when it came to plunder. "Aye, you be right me heartie. We've taken over da ship an taken all da passengers captive. Now, how's progress?"

_"We are currently in route to da outside with the cannon in tow, but how are we supposed ta get it up da steps an to da deck?"_

Kaizokumon put his hand to his beard for a moment then quickly made the "I got it!" expression with his lone eye. "Aye there. I gots an idea. Just keep going straight towards da side of da ship. You'll know what ta do when da time comes." With that he clicked the line off and entered the interior of his ship. He looked towards the side of his ship that was directly beside the other ship and closed his eye as he moved the hair away from the other side of his face and revealed his other eye.

**"KANPAGAN (see-through eye)!!!" **He suddenly opened his eye and glared at the wall as if he were trying to see through it. He seemed to follow something invisible and stopped at one his lower level drawbridges for bring cannons onboard. _'How appropriate,'_ he thought as he pulled a switch and let down the drawbridge. It was just long enough to reach the other ship without leaving an inch of space between them.

He suddenly reached into his scarlet coat and pulled an old musket-like gun, pointing it towards the other ship. **"SHATEKI (target practice)!!!" **A cross shaped beam fired from the gun and shined brightly against the luxury ship's outer wall. He smirked once again as he closed his eye, hiding it back behind his hair and revealed his regular eye. "Dis should make it easier for em."

...............

Kumamon and I started to get extremely tired as we continued chasing our quarry down and EXTEMELY long corridor.

"Is it just me, or is this corridor longer than the ship itself?"

"That would explain a lot. But what the heck is Kiwi-head doing down here anyway?"

"I don't know, but we'll figure that out after we catch up to that cannon thing."

"That's assuming we don't die of old age running down this corridor." Despite the seriousness of the situation I couldn't help but chuckle at Kumamon's short quip.

Up ahead of us the two digimon inside the Nemesis Cannon were turning their heads every now and then, as if searching for something.

"Do ya see it yet, Swabmon?" said the fish digimon to his partner as he steered the cannon down the corridor.

"Not yet," said the skeleton. "But how long is dis blasted corridor!?" he yelled as he tugged on his non-existent hair.

Deckmon could only shrug, but nearly jumped out of the cockpit when he heard his partner gasp. "OI! What are ya screamin about!?"

Swabmon could only point backward from the direction they came from. "We're bein' followed!"

Deckmon turned his head and looked back. "What!? By Who!? I thought Chompers knocked out da guards earlier!"

Swabmon shook his head. "No, it's definitely not da guards. If I didn' know any better I'd say it was dos two landlubbers dat were traveling with Chompers. I never really got a good look at em on da deck, but I may be able ta tell who dey are now."

He peered out towards the two of us and gasped. "One of em's a Kumamon!"

Deckmon nearly slammed on the brakes right then. "A Kumamon!? I thought they were extinct!? What about the other one!?"

Swabmon again tried to get a close look and made a gasping sound as he fell back into his chair. Deckmon would have tried to slap some sense into him but he was too busy driving.

"Oi! What did ya see!? What's da other digimon!?"

"Swabmon slowly turned his head as he started to sweat. "A h-human," he simply said.

Deckmon swerved as he nearly ran the cannon into the closest wall. He was a little more that surprised to hear this news. "A human!? Dat's impossible! Humans haven't been here for centuries!"

"I know, but dere was a rumor dat a new digidestined had come to da digital world."

"The Capt's really not gonna like dis. Wait a minute." A sudden thought came to Deckmon. "If Chompers was traveling with da digidestined, wouldn't dat make him a......"

"Come on. Make him a what!?"

Before Deckmon could make a motion to voice his opinion the end of the corridor finally came into view. Upon closer inspection, it seemed as thought a big, red cross was shining through the metal.

"Well lookie dere! Dere's the captain's signal! Time ta break da fourth wall!"

"The reader's gonna think we're talking about em."

"Shut up!" Deckmon flipped a switch on the front panel and the two shoulder panels on the cannon opened up. Back behind the cannon Kumamon gasped as he saw what the weapon was preparing to do.

"This is bad. This is very, very bad. That's thing's about to use one of its main weapons."

"Which is?"

Up ahead of the cannon, the wall seemed to bend inward.

"What in the world?"

"Stop!" Kumamon skidded to a halt and grabbed me by the back of my shirt as I ran past him.. "We don't need to get any closer to that thing right now until it finishes its attack."

The wall seemed to bend inward more until it finally caved in and flew towards the Nemesis Cannon. As it flew closer and closer, the wall disintegrated into the cannon's shoulders.

I went wide-eyed as the cannon flew out into the open air and kept going. "What in the world was that!?"

Kumamon steeled his face and began running after it. "I'll tell you later! Let's go!"

.............

Kaizokumon looked on with a satisfied smirk on his face as the prize he had been hoping for stopped in front of his feet. Two digimon peered over from the cockpit at him and each gave a salute.

"Sorry for bein' late Captain Kaizokumon. We were goin' down a pretty long corridor," said his skeleton first mate.

Kaizokumon waved it off as unimportant. "It's fine. Now we can call our client and deliver da parcel." The two first mates nodded, but then looked behind them in concern.

"Not ta be a party pooper boss, but we got company."

"Company? It can't be any of da passengers. We got em all locked up in cells on da Hookmon. Must be the guards." He dismissed that as his two lackeys shook their head vigorously. "Then who is it then?"

"A Kumamon and..."

Kaizokumon's visible eye seemed to rise up his face in interest. _'A Kumamon, eh? Those digimon are quite rare. I wonder how much I could sell one for on da slave market. But it sounds like there's someone else with him.' _"And?" he asked impatiently.

"A-a human!"

Kaizokumon's eye grew as big as a dinner plate. "A human!? Are ya sure!? There hasn't been a human here for centuries!"

Swabmon nodded like he'd die if he didn't and depending on how Kaizokumon took the news that's probably what would have happened. "Aye, sir. He looked a bit different than da humans in da old texts, but dat's definitely a human."

Kaizokumon looked behind the ship and spotted two figures nearing the hastily made exit. _'A human? Could it possibly be true? But da only time a human comes to Digiworld is when a new digidestined is chosen. If dat's da case, then I can probably give da sovereigns an extra gift of good faith. They'll pay me double for both da Nemesis Cannon AND the digidestined child.' _"Alrighty, maties. Go ahead and get dat cannon into da Hookmon and get ready ta set sail. I'll take care of our _company_."

The two digimon looked at each other and nodded. The cannon started to continue on to the ship, but as it passed by Kaizokumon thought he saw what looked like a red raptor digimon hanging off the back of it. _'What in da world was that? Nevermind, I'll look into it later.'_ He turned his attention back to the two approaching figures and pulled out his gun. "Dis should be fun."

.............

Kumamon and I picked up the pace as we made it to the hole in the wall and watched as the cannon, along with Rexmon, entered what looked like another ship.

"Rexmon!" I cried out. We had no idea what was going on as we walked out into the open air. "What's going on?" I looked up at the massive ship sailing in front of us. "Is that a pirate ship?"

"To answer your question," a voice rang out. We both looked directly in front of us and laid eyes on a digimon we had never seen before. He twirled a gun on his finger and pointed it at us as we both got into fighting stances. "You've just been boarded."

**Not really a lot of action, I know. But for some reason I still really liked that chapter. Looks like Kaizokumon is working for the sovereigns. Figures.**

**Rexmon: *sadly* I didn't get many lines though.**

**I know, boy. Don't worry. This short arc is focused on you, but it'll take some time to actually get to where I want you to be. Just be patient.**

**Rexmon: Okay!**

**Good. Now, Kumamon. Seems like we're gonna have a tough fight next chapter.**

**Kumamon: Wait, we have to fight Kaizokumon!? But he's so awesome!!! *goes into fanbear mode***

**First he pukes up a whole turkey, now he's turned into this. **

**Rexmon: What's a fanbear?**

**One of the most terrifying things in the universe. Second only to Yaoi fangirls.**

**Kumamon: Amy Lee.**

**Where!? *looks around frantically* Wait, Amy Lee isn't here. You tricked me!**

**Kumamon: Whoops! Would you look at the time! Ja ne! *runs away***

**Kumamon, get back here!**

**Rexmon: Be sure to review and make yourselves known, or just tell us how we could possibly make the story better. Anyway, gotta go. Bye bye! Hey wait for me!**


	19. Hostage

**Hello all! Welcome to chapter 19 of Path of the Chosen. I hope you've all had a good week. Thanks you Fourtress101 for reviewing yesterday despite your now limited computer time and thank Catching Rain for reviewing all of my previous chapters. Now for something I'm kind of excited about. I've almost gotten 25 reviews! I know, it's not that much for most people. But I've never been like most people. For this story I'll make every 25 reviews a milestone achievement and give a shout out to whoever gives me the milestone marking review. Now I'm gonna keep this short since I honestly can't think of anything clever to say. My brain is fried from the burning infernos of life. That's kinda bad for fire elemental isn't it. By the way, last week I watched a walkthrough for Batman: Arkham Asylum. In it Batman has something that's called detective mode where he can see through walls and stuff with this kind of radar vision and that was my inspiration for Kaizokumon's Kanpagan. So if you wanna see what it actually looks like go look up the detective mode on youtube. Anyway be sure to read, enjoy, and review. Kumamon, Rexmon, do my disclaimer!**

**Kumamon: I don't even get to say anything? What a punk. Fine, I'll do your stoopid disclaimer. Stanley/Pyrorynox doesn't not own-Ah! What the crap Rexmon!?**

**Rexmon: He told us both to do the disclaimer, Fuzzymon.**

**Kumamon: Oh fine. It's bad enough that I didn't get any lines. Let's go.**

**Disclaimer: (Both) Stanley/Pyrorynox does not own digimon. But he does own two guitars. Randomness FTW!!!**

We both slowly edged closer to the digimon that was blocking our path as he aimed his gun between the two of us. Whoever this guy was, he seemed strangely excited as his visible eye seemed to glow green in the afternoon sunshine.

"Well lookie what we got here. A actual livin member of da Kumamon species," He nodded towards Kumamon who only growled in response. "And a being whose race ain't been seen in centuries. Da legendary human." I could only raise an eyebrow at being called "legendary".

"You seem to know a lot about us. But who exactly are you? You look like a pirate digimon, but they aren't known to take up space in this part of the digital world," said Kumamon.

Before the digimon could answer I pulled out my digivice and pointed it at him, not noticing the look of surprise on his face at seeing the digivice. "Don't worry about it, Kumamon. I can get that information easily."

**"Kaizokumon, champion level sea faring digimon. Data attribute. Family: Deep Savers. Attacks: Kanpagan (see-through eye), Shateki (target practice), Ranpatsu (rapid fire)."**

I sighed in relief as I read his bio, seeing that two of his attacks were sensory type attacks. Kumamon on the other hand immediately put up a better guard than he had up before upon hearing the digimon's name. "Hey, Kumamon. I don't think we'll have much to worry about. He doesn't have many attacks to hit us with."

"Put your guard up you dummy!" he snapped at me.

I put my arms up in defense, confused as to what suddenly made him so angry. "What's the problem?"

Kumamon growled as glared at the digimon in front of us. "Kaizokumon. I've read about him. He's made quite a name for himself over the years, being infamous in the southern oceans of the digital world. He's pillaged dozens of ships and even raided about a hundred towns. He's not known for his mercy or his good natured humor. Some even call him the Pirate King. But I can't imagine why in the world he would be in this part of the digital world. He may only have a few attacks that actually cause damage, but with the right support attacks they can be as deadly as anything we've faced already if not more deadly."

Kaizokumon took off his hat and bowed in front of Kumamon. "Hmmmm, ya seem ta know a lot about me. I'm honored. Judgin' from da device in da human's hands, I'd like to wager a guess and say dat you're da digidestined. How intriguin'.

"So what if I'm the digidestined!? What matters is what you're doing on this ship!"

Kaizokumon put the hat back on his head before walking over to the side of the drawbridge. "Ya see, I may be a pirate but I like ta change things up every once in a while. Sometimes I take on jobs. Not too long ago I was hired by these two landlubbers to find a certain artifact. Ya may know these two, because I'm sure dey would LOVE ta meetcha. And dey also said sumthin about using da cannon ta get revenge for 'their fallen brother, Serpentmon'."

At this, Kumamon's and my eyes widened in realization. "You're working for the sovereigns, aren't you?" asked Kumamon in a worried and disgusted voice.

Kaizokumon smirked under his beard and pointed his gun at us once again. "They're payin a great bundle for dat cannon ta kill you two. Think of how much I would get if I brought em the ones dey wanted ta use it on in da first place."

"So you sold yourself to those jerks? I thought even pirates had their honor."

"I'm afraid not. Now let's begin." **"Gun, command line. STUN!!!" **Kumamon and I raised an eyebrow as the barrel of his gun suddenly glowed yellow and a yellow beam fired, hitting me in the leg.

"Dammit!" I said to myself as I went down on one knee, my other leg suddenly felt like it was being continually being shocked by a small dose of electricity. "What the heck was that!?"

Kumamon was at my side as soon as I hit the ground. He looked to my leg and noticed that the leg of my pants had been burned off up to the lower calf. "He damaged your garment. Looks like your leg's been stunned."

"Damaged my garment?" I looked down and saw what he was talking about, then let out a loud yell. "THESE WERE MY FAVORITE PANTS!!!"

.........

Meanwhile, Rexmon started to climb up the back of the Nemesis Cannon as two digimon sitting at the front of it steered it towards a good, safe place to leave it while their captain was _preoccupied_. _"I don't get what's going on, but I have to find out."_

As the weapon came to a complete stop the two pirate digimon jumped out of the cockpit and landed on the ground, but were surprised when they heard a third pair of feet hit the wooden floorboards behind them. They both turned around, only to come nose to nose with Rexmon's confused, upset face. Remembering what the young raptor digimon was capable of the two digimon slowly backed away with their arms held out in front of them.

"Oi, Chompers! W-what are ya doin' here!?" Swabmon managed to sputter out in fear of digidestined digimon.

Rexmon seemed to take in a big gulp of air and hold it for a second before he let it all out slowly. Then IT came. "WHAT'S GOING ON!? WHY DID YOU GUYS SUDDENLY LEAVE ME!? WHAT IS THAT BIG THINGY THAT SMELLS BAD!? WHY ARE WE ON ANOTHER BOATIE!? WHO WAS THAT SCARY DIGIMON WE JUST PASSED!? WHY WERE FURRYMON AND STANLEYMON BACK THERE!? DID I WIN THE GAME!? WHERE'S MY PRIZE!?"

Swabmon and Deckmon couldn't help but sweatdrop at the amount of questions that came from out of seemingly nowhere. They both slowly put their arms down as it was certain that Rexmon meant them no harm. "Chompers, why did ya follow us? We just told ya that we were just using ya a few clicks ago."

Rexmon just pouted in frustration. "But I don't understand why. That thing," He pointed over to the Nemesis Cannon. "That thing is really bad. Why would you want it?"

Swabmon and Deckmon sighed and decided it was best to tell the naive digimon the truth. "Chompers, we told ya before we left da boat dat we were actual pirates. There never was a game. We just used ya ta find this thing dat our captain wanted. There is no prize, at least for you anyway."

Finally the truth dawned on Rexmon and he slowly backed away from the two pirate digimon with a sad expression on his face. "You two, you're bad digimon. I-I thought we were friends."

The two digimon put up a front and stepped closer to Rexmon. "You're a fool for trustin' pirates and thinkin dat we were friends. It pains me ta do this, since you woulda made a mighty fine pirate, but we can't have ya getting in our way."

"What?" Rexmon looked up with teary eyes just to narrowly avoid a boney jab that came from out of nowhere by jumping backward. As he landed back on his feet he saw the two that he thought were his friends with sinister smiles on their faces. "Uh-oh."

The two digimon rushed him and started to deliver a flurry of punches that he clumsily blocked as he didn't want to fight the two of them. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to block the sudden head butt to the chest, courtesy of Deckmon. He was sent staggering backwards as he held his chest, the wind knocked out of him. He was still in disbelief that these two were actually fighting him. He didn't want to fight them, but it didn't seem like they were giving him a choice in the matter.

"Fight back, ya ignorant digimon!" shouted Swabmon.

"Ya! Are ya just gonna let us kill ya!? And ta think we actually started ta like ya. What a joke."

Rexmon just stood there with tears in his eyes at the things the two of them were saying to him. But before he had a chance to say anything, we was sent into the air by twin kicks that sent him airborne. His body connected to the wooden floor with a loud thud that could be heard throughout the entire ship. The two digimon walked over to him and Swabmon slung the unconscious Rexmon over his shoulder.

"Well, dat wasn't very easy ta do. So what should we do with him, Deckmon?"

The fish digimon just shrugged. "When da captain gets done with da digidestined and dat other digimon he may have an idea."

Swabmon nodded as they carried Rexmon to a holding cell nearby. "So what were ya sayin about ole Chompers back on da Whamon?" he asked as he laid Rexmon down a bit more gently than expected and locked the cell back up.

Deckmon looked back at the unconscious digimon in the cell and then locked eyes with his skeletal compatriot. "Did ya ever hear about da legend that came about after da end of da last digital war?" Swabmon nodded. "Well, this digidestined is a bit different than da last ones. Legend says that he has _six _digimon."

Swabmon gave the fish a look that practically _screamed _'you're off your gourd'. "Six? Why such a number?"

"It's not certain, but one of da digimon among em was a bear. That would explain da Kumamon that was with da human. But..."

Swabmon was beginning to grow as impatient as Rexmon was back on the ship when he started to get bored with their _game_. "But what? Spill it already!"

Deckmon suddenly grabbed the impatient digimon by his shoulders and spun him around so that he was looking at Rexmon's form. "But another one among them was a dinosaur. Ring any bells?"

Swabmon took a minute to think about it, then it dawned on him as his sweatdropped and replied with, "Oh fish sticks," only to get a slap to the back of his skull. "Ow! What's da big idea!?"

"I find dat offensive."

"My bad. But I wonder what da captain is doing with da digidestined on da drawbridge.

.........

**"Gun, command line. Multiple targeting! SHATEKI!!!" **Two cross shaped beams shot out of Kaizokumon's gun and attached themselves to our foreheads. Frantically trying to get out of the line of fire, we accidentally bumped into each other and fell to the ground in a heap as he continued his attack. **"Gun, command line. **_**DELETE!"**_

Kumamon and I pushed away from each other as there was suddenly a hole where we piled up not two seconds before.

"The digivice didn't say anything about that 'command line' crap coming from his gun! What the heck is that thing!?"

Kumamon tried to catch his breath as we got a short reprieve from the butt kicking we were getting. "My guess is that its something he took from a pillage. I never read about him having a weapon like that in any of the books in Paper Town's library. Oh crap!" He suddenly leaped away from his current position as a shot from Kaizokumon's gun took another chunk out of the drawbridge.

"This isn't going too well. Kumamon, you should digivolve!" I shouted as we were side by side again.

"Not gonna work. There's not enough room on this thing for me to maneuver well as Grizzmon. I'll have to fight like this for the time being. Maybe you could henshin and try to take him out."

I nodded as I pulled out my digivice and my belt appeared on my waist. "Got it. While I'm fighting him, you go and find Rexmon. I may not be able to distract him for too long cause he's pretty strong. Not as strong as Serpentmon, but it took all three of us to beat him so I may still need help with this guy."

"Got it! Here I go!" Kumamon took a running start as I slapped my now flame shaped digivice into my belt.

"HENSHIN!!!"

Kaizokumon had been preparing to attack Kumamon but stopped in his tracks, presently surprised, as he saw me transform into my armored state. He completely overlooked Kumamon as the bear digimon ran right past him and into the pirate's ship.

"Good luck, bro," he whispered as he began his search.

Kaizokumon gave a whistle -don't know how that's possible with the whole thick beard thing- and gazed as the gleaming armor that now encased most of my upper body. "Well would ya lookie here. The ole texts don' say anything about human using armor. And what a shiny armor it is. I can probably get quite the fortune for it too."

I smirked as I unsheathed my sword. "You should know that I haven't really been in the digital world that long. But, even so, I'm no pushover!" I suddenly launched myself at him, a trail of flames following behind me.

Kaizokumon wasn't prepared for the attack and moved to the side just in time to avoid being stabbed in the chest. "I wasn't expecting you to have such power. You're no different from a digimon."

I extended my arm out and pointed the point of my blade at his face. "Tell me why you're working with the sovereigns, Kaizokumon! I thought even pirates had their honor!"

"We do, but what's a little extra money on da side?" he said gleefully as his slowly put his gun away and pulled out a long, pirate sword. "Just to show you how honorable I am, I'll play on a even playing field with you."

_"He's mocking me?" _I rolled my eyes. _"This is just like with Chase back home. No! Can't think __about him right now." _I shook my head and got the thought of my bully out of my head. When I looked back to Kaizokumon's direction I came face to face with his blade. Quickly shifting my weight backwards I fell back and kicked Kaizokumon in the stomach, using his momentum to send him back behind me. We both got up at once and connected blades, sparks shooting from them.

"Ah, what happened to ya, boy? Ya seemed distracted for a second there. Something on your mind?"

I growled as I started to push him back. "Somebody sure is sure of themselves. Well shut up and take this!" I brought my knee up and kneed him in the stomach, sending him reeling back and putting some distance between the two of us.

Kaizokumon held his stomach as his glowing eye started to shine. "Ya sure aren't pulling any punches, boy. Maybe I shouldn't either!" He suddenly lunged at me, now with my back to his pirate ship, and hurled me into said ship.

........

Kumamon carefully infiltrated the ship's interior in search of Rexmon. The bowels of the pirate ship were_ crawling_ with the same kind of digimon that he had saw riding the Nemesis Cannon before. He had even been spotted a few times, but a 'Bear Chop' to the neck had silenced the fish digimon while threw the skeletons somewhere. _'It doesn't get more generic that this. You'd think that as famous as Kaizokumon is he would be able to amass a more varied selection of cronies. Must be a cheap mon.'_

He then quietly tiptoed down a stairwell and entered what looked like a dungeon room. Vaguely reminded of how I had described the dungeon of Bravery Tower not too long ago he said, "What is with evil digimon and dungeons?"

He walked around, throughly checking each cell for signs of his fellow partner digimon. In various cells he could see passengers that had been on the S.S. Whamon. "Oh great, he abducted everyone that was on the stupid ship. Terrific." he said with a sarcastic sigh. After checking about eight cells that were stuffed to near capacity with digimon he came across one that seemed empty. Upon closer inspection he could see a shadowed figure lying unconscious on the hard, wooden floor. "Yo, Kiwi-head. Is that you?"

A groan of "Where's my bread" revealed the prisoner's identity as the raptor digimon that he had been looking for. He gave a relieved sigh as he aimed his fist as the large padlock that kept the cell from being opened from the inside. **"Bear fist." **he said quietly as to not alert any guards that may be nearby. A golden bear head just big enough to cover his fist shot out and broke the padlock. Gently lying the thing to the side, he opened the cell and entered, checking to see the condition of his comrade.

"Yo, Kiwi-head. You okay?" he asked as he helped the digimon sit in an upright position.

Rexmon looked to him groggily and responded,"I'm hungry, furry-mon. Got any bread?"

Kumamon smiled to himself in the darkness of the cell as he hoisted the large digimon on his back and began to exit the cell. "Yup, you're okay."

The two of them made their way to the stairs, but were stopped by a voice from one of the other cells. "Hey, aren't you gonna get us out of here too?" asked a random Gazimon. His question was soon followed by many pleas to rescue them too.

"Shhhh! Be quiet or they'll know something's going on down here. Then _nobody_ is getting free. I promise we'll come back later, but we have to beat these guys first."

The same Gazimon from before had his doubts. "How do we know you'll beat the pirate, or even if you'll come back for us?"

Kumamon gave a huge grin as he pointed a thumb to himself. "Easy. I'm the Bear of Power. And this guy," he pointed to the still half conscious digimon on his back, "is the Dinosaur of Virtue. Ever heard of us?" And without waiting for an answer, he made his way up the staircase and quietly exited out of the door amidst the quiet murmurs that know filled the dungeons.

Kumamon carefully made his way back up through the ship's interior, but was having a slightly harder job this time now that he was carrying cargo. Said cargo had been quiet since they left the dungeon rooms and although they were supposed to be as quiet as possible the fact that the normally loud digimon hadn't said a word was beginning to drive Kumamon insane. "Kiwi-head, why aren't you saying anything? I know we're supposed to be quiet, but this is just weird coming from you."

The raptor digimon didn't say anything; he just stared at the floor over Kumamon's shoulder. His breathing seemed to get deeper, filling Kumamon with concern.

"Okay, now I _know _there's something wrong with you. Spill it."

"Why did you and Stanley-mon leave me on the boat?"

"Eh? What are you talking about?" Kumamon craned his neck to look at Rexmon, but before he could get an answer a loud rumbling sound filled the room. The sound echoed off of the walls of the ship and reverberated, making it even louder and alerting all of the Swabmon and Deckmon of their positions.

As they were slowly surrounded by dozens of the digimon Kumamon could only sigh. "I'm changing your title. Do you prefer the Dinosaur of Gluttony, or the Dinosaur of Bad Luck?"

"Heehee. Sorry."

.........

The fight between Kaizokumon and I was going really well, for Kaizokumon that is. As soon as we had crashed into the ship he had ordered all his nearby crew to extinguish all forms of light. Now it was almost pitch black in the area we were fighting in, save for the light that came through the drawbridge hatch and the light that was emitted from my flaming wings. Even then I couldn't see him until he was extremely close to me. My breathing started to become labored as I grew tired once again.

"I really need to work on my endurance. And these wings are doing more harm than good. They're practically screaming out my location." I put out the fire that covered my wings, surprising even myself. _"Didn't know I could do that. Well let's see if he can find me now."_

Kaizokumon, who had been watching me the entire time, grinned evilly in the dark. "So ya think puttin' out yer little wings will keep me from findin' ya, huh? Sorry to break it to ya, boy, but I see all." **"KANPAGAN!!!" **Suddenly his eye began to shine with green light again and he could see everything as if he could use some kind of radar vision. To him, every living organism was in the form of a glowing, green skeleton. He smiled under his beard as he put away his sword and pulled his gun back out. "Time to hunt."

I, not knowing where Kaizokumon was, felt a chill in the air. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" I held my sword up in front of me as something green seemed to glow in the air in front of me. "What is that?"

**"RANPATSU!!!" **

Suddenly I was bombarded with twenty energy balls, -yes I counted- sending me flying backwards into a wooden beam that just happened to be behind me. Sliding down the beam to a sitting position, I cursed under my breath. "Great, now he can see in the dark. This is a really cowardly thing to do, Kaizokumon! I thought you said even you had your honor!"

I saw the green glow from before float up a few yards to my left and heard the faint sound of footsteps coming from that direction. _"That's probably him. His eye did glow when we first met the guy. He doesn't know that I know his location. So I can probably get him with a sneak attack."_ I quickly got up and started to run around the room as fast as I could go. Kaizokumon was surprised by the speed and had trouble keeping aim.

"You think that can keep from hitting you, boy!?" **"RANPATSU!!!" **In his haste, Kaizokumon started to shoot all around the room, sure that he would definitely hit me with at least a few shots. Having a better idea of where he was now that was shooting like a maniac, I jumped high into the air and in his direction. With my sword high in the air I prepared to strike him with a slash that would possibly turn the tide in my favor. **"BLAZINNNNG-!!!"**

Suddenly the lights came on in mid-attack, blinding both of us. In the clutches of some of Kaizokumon's cronies was a beat up Kumamon and Rexmon, the later of which was waving half enthusiastically.

"Hi, Stanley-mon! We, uh, kinda got captured."

In true Inuyasha like fashion I fell face first to the hard floor.

Kaizokumon looked from me to the two digimon in the clutches of his minions and scratched his head. "Um, we got your yer maties. So come quietly or we'll kill them."

I slowly got off of the ground and looked over to my captive digimon. Rexmon turned his head to the side, an embarrassed look on his face. Kumamon was being held back by a couple of digimon while he tried to get to Rexmon so he could strangle the raptor digimon apparently. I slapped a palm to my forehead and dragged it down my face. "I swear I have bad luck." With a defeated sigh I sent the armor away and Kaizokumon motioned for a few of his digimon to knock me to the ground to keep me from trying anything. Only two thoughts came through my head as they brought me to my knees and put a pair of shackles on my wrists. _"I can't believe I'm being held hostage again. If Malcolm were here he would probably make a very inappropriate joke about this."_

**Eh, like I said earlier, I can't think of anything clever to say so I'll just leave with this. Have a safe Thanksgiving break everyone!**

**Kumamon: Isn't Ashton's birthday on Thanksgiving?**

**Rexmon: And Erica's birthday was on this past Monday.**

**Holy crap! I forgot! Um, for those of you who review please be sure to wish Ash a happy early birthday and Ash a happy late birthday. I'm sure they'd really appreciate it if you did since ****they're actually a big part of the story as well. Well be sure to review. Laters!**

**Both: WHERE THE HECK ARE OUR LINES!?**


	20. Tossed

**Hello everybody. I know it's been over a month, but I've been so side tracked lately with thanksgiving, seeing a lot of my old friend from high school, MORE writer's block, and now Christmas stuff. I'm kinda disappointed that I only got one review over the month that I've been gone and that was from one of my regulars. Thanks to Catching Rain for that review. You gotta start checking your emails more often. To everybody else, if you want to make the story even better you have to give me some feedback so that I know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Anyway, I'm gonna be gone most of next week and won't have much time to work on this story, so I was DETERMINED to get this chapter out tonight as a Christmas present to all those that do indeed read. I apologize if you see any mistakes or anything confusing. Now if my timing is right, then those two should be here any second. You know who I'm talking about.**

**Rexmon: STANLEYMON!!! *tackles me* We've missed you!**

**Kumamon: Oi. Get off him so he can breath.**

**Thanks Kumamon. Sorry for the really delayed update.**

**Kumamon: Eh, don't be. It could be worse I guess. So what's with this Christmas thing?**

**Eh?**

**Rexmon: Yeah. What's Christmas?**

**Um, that's a good question. Well, for most people it's a day to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus.**

**Kumamon: Jesus? Who the heck is Jesus?**

***sweatdrops* Um, that's a lesson for another time since I don't want to offend anybody. But Christmas is also a time for giving gifts to one another as an act of good cheer.**

**Kumamon and Rexmon: *holds hands out***

**Um, what? Why are you holding your hands out?**

**Kumamon and Rexmon: Where are our presents!?**

**Crap. Oh well gotta go! *runs away***

**Kumamon: This ain't over! Let's get him!**

**Rexmon: Yay! Tag!**

**Disclaimer: Stanley Spearman/Pyrorynox does not own digimon. Hopefully he will own everything he wanted for Christmas tomorrow morning. But I doubt it. Cheap parents.**

Takamon continued to study the geography of File Island from the on screen map, unaware that a curious Irukamon was peering around the corner at him as he punched keys at lightning speed with the tip of his wings. Pushing down one more key, he got up and began to put away some of the stuff that cluttered his lab. "You can come out, Irukamon. I know you're there."

With a raised eyebrow Irukamon came from his 'hiding place' and leaned against the door frame as Takamon continued to clean up. "So how'd you know I was there? Some kind of intricate formula about there being too much mass in the area? Or maybe you calculated that there was less oxygen then there should've been?"

"Actually half of your face was in the door and I could see you through the corner of my eye."

Irukamon sweatdropped as he rubbed the back of his head. "Oh. I see. Well bird digimon have really good eyesight so it was pretty much pointless for me to try and spy on you."

Takamon smiled as he walked towards the door on his two talons. "So did Poseidonmon send you down here for me again?"

Irukamon nodded as the two of them headed down the long hallway that led to the sovereign meeting room. "He wants to know your findings so that we can decide the best course of action to take against the digidestined."

Takamon showed his discomfort at telling Poseidonmon about how to best to beat the digidestined. For some reason the human intrigued Takamon. "Do I really have to tell him the best course of action?" He looked up and looked into Irukamon's dark eyes.

"What do you mean by that?"

The falcon digimon shrank under the dolphin digimon's gaze, unsure if his next words would exactly ensure he wouldn't be harmed, but spoke anyway. "I don't really want to help Poseidonmon. It feels wrong to me somehow." He suddenly had the wind knocked out of him as he was lifted up into the air and shoved into the closest wall. He looked into Irukamon's now murderous eyes and trembled in said digimon's grasp.

"Takamon, I agree that I despise Poseidonmon for his cowardly methods, but we are still brothers in arms. I won't forgive anyone who betrays that brotherhood. The only reason I choose not to reprimand you now is because you are possibly the only other intelligent digimon here besides myself. Plus you are young, and maybe in time you'll lose your childish sentiments of right and wrong. The only thing that matters to us is _power._ Don't forget that." His voice had been calm the whole time, but the fear that had begun to grow in Takamon had only intensified with each word. He slowly let go of Takamon and let him land on his sharp talons.

Takamon could only look down, a shamed look on his face. Irukamon saw this and sighed as he laid a hand on top of his head. Takamon flinched but didn't back away.

"I apologize, my young friend. But I will do whatever it takes to protect my brothers, even pretend like I want to take over the digital world."

Takamon snapped his head into attention and stared at Irukamon like he had grown a second head. Well a digimon that _wasn't_ supposed to have more than one head. "What do you mean by that? I thought you were like the others."

"No, I'm not like the others at all. At least not in the power hungry sense. Listen, we can talk about this some other time. But for now go tell Poseidonmon what you've come up with. I promise to tell you everything afterwards."

Looking around to see if there was anyone around, Takamon leaned up and whispered something in Irukamon's ear. As he spoke in hushed tones Irukamon's eyes began to widen in surprise.

"Are you sure? That seems rather far fetched, even for the digital world."

"I'm sure, Irukamon. It's on File Island. It does seem a bit odd, but you know I'm never wrong about things like this."

"Hmmm. Knowing how curious you are, you're probably gonna go investigate it soon. You'd probably be gone right now if you didn't have to report to Poseidonmon." Irukamon saw his young friend flinch slightly. He must have really been on edge.

"Ha. Well I did plan on doing it pretty soon. But this is something I don't want anyone else to know about. I don't know why, but I feel like I should go there and that if Poseidonmon or even one of the others found out about it then something bad would happen."

Nodding in agreement, the elder of the two turned in the direction they had been traveling in and began to walk down the hallway again. "Come, Takamon. If we take too much longer then they may begin to suspect something."

With a new understanding of Irukamon, Takamon began to get excited about his earlier discovery. "If that's the case, then let's hurry up and tell his big-headedness and then get back to my discovery!" Without another word he extended his wings and with one flap was soaring down the hallway.

Irukamon watched the young Champion digimon turn on his side in the air and disappear around a corner. "He can be so naïve at times. But he's kind, just like you are, old friend. He also has a weird taste in nicknames like you do. Although 'his big-headedness' isn't as bad as 'Fishymon or Scalymon'."

…............

"ACHOO!!!" Rexmon sneezed as the three of us struggled against our bindings on the deck of Kaizokumon's ship.

"You okay?"

He nodded as he took a sniff with his nose to try and clear it up. "I'm okay, Stanleymon. That happens a lot."

I craned my neck and looked at him in concern. "I know this is a bad time to ask since we're all tied up, but are you maybe getting sick?"

Rexmon opened his mouth to answer, but before he could Kumamon interrupted. "That's impossible. Didn't you know that idiots never catch colds? If I had to guess, somebody's probably thinking about him."

Rexmon's ears dropped at the 'idiot' comment. "I'm not stupid, Fuzzymon. And who do you think is thinking about me?"  
Kumamon gave a cheerful smile and craned his neck to the side. "Well you're an idiot for getting us into this. And for that," he paused as his face turned dark and murderous. "I'M _THINKING_ ABOUT KILLING YOU!!!" He suddenly started scooting over to his side in an attempt to get to Rexmon. "COME HERE SO I CAN MAKE YOU EXTINCT!!!"

"AHHH!!! STANLEY-MON HELP!!!" Rexmon shouted as he began to scoot over to stay away from Kumamon. The bad thing was that the three of us were tied up together, back to back, so the two of them scooting only made us spin around.

"Will the two of you stop!? You're just gonna make us all dizzy!"

Kumamon reluctantly ceased with his attempts to kill Rexmon and sat down with a scowl on his face. "Well what the heck do we do now?" he asked with a tinge of contempt.

"Well they tied my hands up too, so I can't burn the ropes off. And Rexmon can't bend his head down that low so he can't do it either. Plus they tied his hands up too so he can't cut them with his claws."

"Great. They tied mine up too. And this rope is really constricting so trying to muscle my way out of it would be painful and pointless." replied Kumamon.

Rexmon ears shot up as he got an idea. "Hey, Stanleymon! We can digivolve and bust out of the ropes." he said hopefully.

"I don't think that would work, Rexmon. Since the ropes are so tight adding more mass to them might get us impaled. Besides, even if that wasn't an issue Kaizokumon took my digivice to make sure I didn't digivolve you guys when you were brought to the top of the ship. But you two have to tell me, what's going on with the passengers who were on the Whamon? Are they okay?"

"Yeah. They're all down there. They wanted us to get them out, but I told them we would come back for them after we beat Kaizokumon. Then we got captured."

"Wait, what you talking about Stanleymon? The passengers are down there too?" asked Rexmon.

Turning my head to him, I said, "Wait, you were down there. How could you not have noticed?" "Stanley, when I went to find him he was knocked out in a cell. And he was still really loopy when I got him out. Plus he's an idiot. We can't forget that." Rexmon pouted as Kumamon made fun of him.

"You're a meanie, Fuzzymon."

"Stop calling me that!"

"I don't know if you two have noticed, but WE'RE KINDA TIED UP HERE!!! What the heck happened down there anyway!? I thought you were just going to get Rexmon, Kumamon!?"

Kumamon growled softly. "I was and we almost got out too. But the bottomless pit here just had to let his stomach growl while we were in a room full of grunts."

"And you couldn't at least fight your way out?"

"Actually, Stanleymon, that's my fault."

…......

_As they were slowly surrounded by dozens of the digimon Kumamon could only sigh. "I'm changing your title. Do you prefer the Dinosaur of Gluttony, or the Dinosaur of Bad Luck?"_

_"Heehee. Sorry."_

_"Get em!" yelled a random digimon. All at once, all the digimon in the room rushed them. As one swabmon aimed to throw a punch, Kumamon jumped into the air and back flipped out of the way with Rexmon still on his back._

_"Yo, Kiwi-head! Do you think you can fight? I'm not sure if I can take all of these out myself and you're really good in a fight."_

_"I don't know, but I'll try my best."_

_"Okay. Let's go!" Kumamon put Rexmon down as he ran up to a crowd of pirate flunkies and jumped into the air with a glowing leg. **"FUZZY ROUNDHOUSE!!!"** The digimon directly in from of him took the full force of the attack while the others behind him got out of the way. One ran at him with an extended arm and a balled up fist. Kumamon grabbed it's wrist and gave it a palm to the chin, then flipped it over his shoulder only to give it a quick punch to the belly just after it slammed back onto the floor. "Take that, stupid. Now let's see how our dino's doing." He turned his towards where Rexmon was and sweatdropped._

_Rexmon clumsily avoided a vertical slash from a digimon's cutlass and fell back onto his butt as the same digimon began to slash blindly at him. Scooting back in a desperate attempt to get away, he managed to avoid the crazed digimon's attacks. He backed into a wall and stood up as the digimon jumped into the air and came down with a stronger slash than the first one. "DIE!!!"_

_"AHHHH!!!" Rexmon squealed. He turned his back to the digimon and put his claws over his head. Luckily for him, his tail had been poking straight out and the digimon couldn't stop himself as his belly collided with the point of Rexmon's tail, knocking the wind out of him. Rexmon heard the digimon grunt and turned around to see him unconscious. "Eh? What happened to him?" Rexmon assumed his 'curious pose' with the point of his claw in his mouth as he got back to his feet._

_Kumamon slapped his paw to his forehead and dragged it down. "You've got to be kidding me. Oi! What are you doing!?"_

_Rexmon ducked under a digimon's fist as he heard Kumamon's voice. "What do you mean, Fuzzymon?"_

_"What happened to that fighting instinct of your's!? You should be running circles around these guys!" he shouted as he spun a digimon in midair and threw him into one of the pillars that kept the deck up. He then ran at one digimon that was close to the wall, jumped up and wrapped his arm around the side of his neck. Kicking off the wall, Kumamon then swung around and drove both his knees into the digimon's chest. **"KUMA KICK!!!"**_

_**"PYRO SHOT!!!" **Rexmon sent a random fire ball into a crowd of digimon and they dispersed. "Haha! Take that! Whoa!" he shouted as he felt his legs pulled out from under him. Immediately two digimon with cutlasses stood over him, ready to decapitate the rookie digimon. "FUZZYMON!!!" He shouted as he again put his arms over his head._

_Kumamon saw this and dropped a digimon he had on his shoulders. "Crap!" He ran over and grabbed Rexmon by his ankles, then quickly pulled him back right before the cutlasses pierced the floor where his neck had previously been._

_Rexmon slowly took his arms from on top of his head and looked around until he saw Kumamon with a sour look on his face. "Fuzzymon! You saved me!"_

_"I wouldn't have to if you got your act together! I can see how you got captured if this is how you've been fighting all day!"_

_While Kumamon continued his rant, the flunkies all surrounded the two digimon. Rexmon saw all of the digimon around them and nervously shook Kumamon's shoulder to get to notice. "Uh, Fuzzy-mon?"_

_"No, don't interrupt me. You and Stanley are so much alike. Clumsy and only useful in a fight if you get angry."_

_"But. But, Fuzzymon! The bad digimon!"_

_"What about em- Kiwi-head?"_

_Rexmon looked over Kumamon's shoulder, only now his eyes were slitted as his instinct took over. "RAAAAH!!!" With a loud roar, he hopped over Kumamon shoulder and tailed whipped a couple of digimon._

_Kumamon looked around as he finally noticed all of the Swabmon and Deckmon that had surrounded him without him noticing. "Oh, I see what you meant now. Eh, what's a few more busted heads?" he said as he tightened his training grips with a look of glee on his face. **"RAPID FIRE BEAR FIST!!!" **Kumamon braced himself and threw a dozen punches seemingly at the same time in a dozen different directions at lightning speed and a dozen bear fists plowed into any digimon unlucky enough to be in the way. "Heck yeah!"_

_Rexmon slashed at digimon left and right with his claws and bit down hard on an unlucky Deckmon's neck. **"PYRO BITE!!!" **A powerful fire ball shot out and hit the digimon right in his neck, deleting him instantly._

_........_

"Wait. It sounds like you two had everything under control even though you were outnumbered. How did you guys end up captured?" I asked as I struggled against our bonds to look at them.

Kumamon growled as he tried to muscle his way out of the rope, but it to no avail. "Gah! We would have if it hadn't been for Rexmon here getting all soft on us when things got hot! How are we supposed to help those digimon trapped in those cells now!?"

While Kumamon was busy ranting yet again, I turned my head over to Rexmon and whispered in his ear. "Rexmon, what exactly happened with you? We left to go inside and when we came back you were gone. What were doing down in the lower levels of the ship? And why were you chasing those two digimon who were on that tank thing?"

Rexmon's bat-like ears drooped down as he made a whining noise like a puppy and he proceeded to hang his head down, looking at his large, clawed feet. "Stanley-mon. I.....I," he started as his mouth quivered and his eyes began to tear up.

I looked at him with a confused expression and turned my head back forward. "Rexmon, was it something bad?"

"Oh it was somethin bad alright. Bad for _you, _human."

Looking up, I looked into the dark eye of Kaizokumon. He had closed the eye held the Kanpagan and covered it up with his bushy hair. A maniacal grin could be seen, even through his beard. "Kaizokumon. What do you want?"

The pirate digimon took off his hat and bowed down in front of me. "Ah, me human matie. I don' want anythin. Ya see we originally came here ta get da Nemesis Cannon for da sovereigns. But low and behold, we get not only da cannon, but da ones dey want ta kill with it. Me and me crew will get a hefty sum for da three of ya. But da question now is 'what do we do wit ya til da sovereigns get here?'."

Any ranting or stomach growling ceased right then. "What? What do you mean by that?" I asked worriedly.

Instead of speaking, he snapped his fingers and motioned for a group of Swabmon and Deckmon to pick us up and carry us as he walked to the side of the ship. Out in the horizon a small island could be seen amidst the sunset.

"You see, I've decided dat I'm going to put ya on dat island for safe keepin until I get in touch wit da sovereigns. It's risky ta keep ya all on da ship as you've shown dat you can be quite crafty. It's uninhabited, but dere's plenty of food ta keep ya alive until da sovereigns come for ya. And since you got dat little armor of yours, boy, I'll be taking this as a souvenir. " He gave me a condescending smile as he pulled my digivice out of his pocket and began to toss it in the air.

Fuming, I struggled against the bond in an ill attempt to get to him. "Give back my digivice, you bastard!"

Kaizokumon smirked and put the digivice back into his pocket, out of sight. "Well we wouldn' want ya ta fly after us, now would we? But now ya will be doin a bit of flyin though. YO BOYS!!! BRING OUT DA CANNON!!!"

Before any of us could say a word, a panel opened up in the deck and the Nemesis Cannon came billowing out of it. Piloting it was another Swabmon and Deckmon, but for some reason they seemed different than all the others. They drove the cannon over to where we were and gave a salute to Kaizokumon.

Kumamon looked up at the two and Rexmon and I grunted as we felt him struggle against the ropes that held us. "YOU TWO!!! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'M GONNA DO WHAT REXMON SHOULD'VE DONE!!!"

I looked back and forth between the two digimon on the Nemesis Cannon, Kumamon, and Rexmon. _"Just what the heck happened down there?"_

Rexmon looked up at the two in the cannon, but unlike Kumamon he looked really sorrowful. The two didn't seem to look back at him thought. It was almost as if they were _trying _not to look at him.

"Aye, Lord Kaizokumon. Ya called?" said the Swabmon.

Kaizokumon took a hand held telescope and extended it so he could get a closer look at the island. "Yes, ya see, I want ya ta use da grapplin' arms on da cannon and throw da three of them ta dat island."

"WHAT!?" the three of us yelled.

Kaizokumon turned to us. "Is dere a problem wit da travelin' arrangements?" he said with mock-aloofness. The three of us just glared at him so he turned to the two on the cannon, who for some reason had shocked looks on their faces. "And wat is wrong wit you two?" His voice sounded stern and threatening.

The two of them got down from the ship and briskly walked up to Kaizokumon. "Well sir, doesn't dat sound kinda dangerous? Wat if dey get injured? I'm sure da sovereigns wouldn' like dat too much," said the Deckmon. The Swabmon was throwing quick glances to Rexmon, as if he were afraid of something.

Kaizokumon picked the Deckmon up by the scruff of his sailor's outfit and threw him aside. "Useless piece a trash."

"DECKMON!!!"

"FISHYMON!!!" cried Swabmon and Rexmon at the same time. I noticed this and was more confused than ever.

_"Do they all know each other or something? What the heck is going on?"_

Kaizokumon shoved Swabmon aside as he talked towards the cannon and climbed up to its cockpit. "When ya want somethin done right, ya gotta do it yerself. Now how do ya pilot dis thing?" He put his hands on the controls and instantly felt the palms of his hands begin to tingle. "Hmmm, that's weird. Oh well time ta go, digidestined." Even thought he had just had no idea how to pilot it a second ago, he worked the arms of the cannon effortlessly.

Swabmon had went to check up on Deckmon and they two of them looked at Rexmon with apologetic looks. "Chompers."

Rexmon looked down and whispered softly to himself. "Boneymon. Fishymon."

Kumamon, on the other hand, wasn't as ready to give up. "Like I'm just gonna let you toss me halfway across the ocean! Stanley! Kiwi-head! Dragon breath him!"

Turning his head away from the two first mates, Rexmon turned his attention to Kaizokumon and opened his mouth. **"PYRO SHOT!!!"**

I opened my mouth but all that came out was a small poof of white smoke. "I hate my life." I said with a sweatdrop.

Rexmon's fireball shot towards Kaizokumon, only to be swatted away by one of the Nemesis Cannon's arms.

"Nice try, but ya rookies can't compare ta da power of dis here weapon. Now goodbye!" He pushed a button and the arm shot out to grab us.

Struggling against our bonds we tried to get out of the way of the arm, but it was much too fast and wrapped its fingers tightly around us. "Crap!" shouted Kumamon.

"Say hello to da trees for me!" And with that Kaizokumon reared the arm back and shot us at breakneck speed towards the island.

**Kumamon: He threw us at an island? Where do you think these guys up, Stanley?**

**Eh, I don't know. I wanted a character like Matrix from Reboot. But he sounds like flippin Barbosa from Pirates of the Caribbean.**

**Rexmon: *chomps on bread* Thanks for the present, Stanley.**

**Me and Kumamon: *looks at Rexmon* ALL YOU DO IS EAT!!!**

**Well this chapter is done with. Review and look forward to the next one as I travel to Alabama for a retreat. I love my readers and I feel like I don't do you guys justice with my story. So from us to you: MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM KUMAMON, REXMON, AND STANLEY!!!**

**Kumamon: Haha. My name came first.**

**You're such a narcissist, Kumamon.**

**Rexmon: Mmm, bread.**

**Kumamon and I: STOP EATING!!!**


	21. Stranded

**Hello everyone, it's been a looooooooong time since I've updated this story but you'll have to forgive me. After Christmas I had a lot going on, death in the family, friends causing me stress, and it seems like I've been trying to solve everyone's problems but my own. Luckily I've had a certain somebody around to comfort me. Those of you who've waited patiently, thank you so much. Last time Kumamon, Rexmon, and I got captured by Kaizokumon and got thrown towards an island. That's doesn't happy too often, does it?**

**Kumamon: Nice to see you back, and so happy. Was it your valentine that cheered you up? -nudge nudge-**

**-nervously- Maybe. So where's Rexmon?**

**Kumamon: Don't know. He should be around here.........somewhere. -wink wink-**

**Why in the world are you wink-AHH!!! -falls down as Rexmon jumps on my back- What in the world are you doing!?**

**Kumamon and Rexmon both: HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY!!!**

**That's right, it's my birthday today. I decided that I would wait til my 21st birthday to upload the 21st chapter since it was taking me so long to write.**

**Rexmon: Yup. So you should all review as a birthday present to him. By the way, Fourtress101 got the 25 review! Congrats for giving this milestone review.**

**Kumamon: Catching Rain, you missed it by a hair. Maybe you'll get review 50. But you two are definitely awesome regardless. We love the both of you and hope that everyone had a great valentine's day.**

**Rexmon: We know Stanley-mon did.**

**Oi! That's enough out of the two of you. And thank you to those that added me to your story alerts. That gives me encouragement. Anyway, onto the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own digimon, but you already knew that, didn't you?**

Three loud, strangely high pitched cries filled the sky as we zoomed over the horizon, towards the far off island. As we flew through the air at speeds that would easily dwarf most highway speed limits the wind caught in our mouth, making all of our jaws push outward comically. It should have made the fact that we could even scream impossible, but that's logic for you.

"IF WE HIT THAT ISLAND GOING AT THIS SPEED WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Rexmon's screams suddenly got twice as loud. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE, STANLEY-MON!!! HELP!!!"

"WILL THE BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!? WE NEED TO THINK OF A WAY OUT OF THIS!!!"

Kumamon's shout somehow shut the two of us up as he tried to come up with a plan. He hung his head to keep the wind out of his face as much as possible so he could think better. By chance he happened to see my hands clenched around the ropes in an act of desperation and an idea struck him.

"STANLEY!!! DO YOU THINK YOU CAN BURN THE ROPE OFF WITH YOUR HANDS!?

"MY POWERS STILL AREN'T WORKING!!! IF I COULD ABSORB SOME THEN I COULD GET THEM OFF!!! BUT I CAN'T MOVE MY ARM ENOUGH TO GIVE REXMON A GOOD SHOT AT IT!!!

Since Kaizokumon's flunkies had first tied our arms to our sides then tied us up together maneuverability was extremely limited for us. Rexmon just couldn't angle his head enough to hit me with a flame attack.

"STANLEY-MON!!! USE YOUR LEG!!!" screamed Rexmon as we got closer and closer to the island.

I forced my head to move down towards my legs. I hadn't thought of it before, but my legs had a much longer reach than my arms did and way more flexibility at the moment. It would be easy for Rexmon to hit. "THIS MAY COST ME A PANTS LEG, BUT HERE GOES!!!" As the G-forces continued to push against our bodies I pulled the leg closest to Rexmon up as far as I could. "REXMON, GO!!!"

The raptor digimon tilted his head and aimed as my leg as the force of the wind began to push it back down. **"PYRO SHOT!!!"** A large fireball shot out his mouth and hit the knee of my pants as I hissed a bit from the pain. I had only absorbed fire once and that was through my palms, so absorbing it from my leg was a bit different.

As the leg of my pants sizzled away the familiar feeling of a comfortable heat began to flow through my body. Relaxing slightly, I pulled my hands up to the ropes and grasped them tightly as I pulled some heat into my hands. Kumamon and Rexmon both waited with baited breath as the ropes began to sizzle and snap. "HERE WE GO!!!" With that the ropes snapped apart from the heat and I quickly grabbed onto the ropes holding the others' arms together and burned them off too.

"Ow! That burns you idiot!!!" cried Kumamon as his ropes came off. His fur was slightly singed.

"Yay! I can move my arms!" Rexmon, being a fire digimon, was not affected by the low level fire technique and immediately flung his arms out and began to flap them like the wings of a bird while we were still in midair.

"Be serious you goofy dino! We gotta figure out how to land without getting killed!" screamed Kumamon as we continued to fly. Rexmon immediately stopped flapping and began to look around.

"I don't think we're gonna make it to the island, Fuzzy-mon!"

"Huh?" both Kumamon and I went. The two of us looked around and saw that everything was passing by as fast as it was before. It appeared as though we had slowed down.

"He's right! As this speed we're gonna end up slamming into the water instead of the island!"

"Isn't that a good thing!?" both Rexmon and I asked.

"No! At this this height we're as good as dead if we hit the water! If a belly flop from a few feet hurts, think of what one from this altitude would do to you!"

Rexmon put his claw up to his mouth and said, "Rexmon go bye-bye?"

Kumamon and I just sweatdropped as nodded our heads. "Yes. Rexmon go bye-bye."

Rexmon immediately began to cry anime tears as we began our descent towards the ocean.

"Dammit! Can't we cushion the impact somehow!? We're gonna hit the surface any minute!"

Kumamon suddenly grabbed my shirt and shook me. "YOU'RE A GENIUS!!! We can our attacks on the water's surface at the last minute and it'll cushion our impact! Let's go!"

Rexmon stopped crying and looked at the water as his eyes turned feral and Kumamon reared back his fist. I, on the other hand, just faced the water and gulped. "I really miss Earth." I said to myself as I also reared back a first.

"HERE WE GO!!! 5!!! 4!!! 3!!! 2!!! 1!!!" he shouted just as we about to hit the water's surface.

**"PYRO SHOT!!!"**

** "PHOENIX PUNCH!!!"**

** "BEAR FIST!!!"**

The three attacks collided with the water, resulting in a large wave that picked the three of us up and threw us into three different spots in the ocean. Kumamon came up first, quickly followed by Rexmon.

"Hey, Kiwi-head! Where's the idiot!?"

Rexmon looked around worriedly as I was nowhere to be seen. "I don't see him, Fuzzymon! Where is he?"

Kumamon growled as he thought about the incident with Kuwagamon and the river. "I forgot he couldn't swim, so he's probably still in the water! Drowning!!!"

With wide eyes, Rexmon quickly took a breath and dove down into the water in an attempt to look for me as Kumamon quickly did likewise.

_ "Stanley-mon, where are you? Rexmon will be sad if he doesn't find you."_

_ "You idiot! I swear if I find you alive I'm gonna pound you into the dirt THEN teach you how to __swim! _

As they continued to swim through the various underwater currents they began to run out of breath and had to return to the surface. Kumamon was the first to speak as they broke the surface.

"Crud, where is he!?" His expression turned to one of panic as he moved around in the water frantically.

Rexmon could only look at the panic stricken digimon with a frown on his face. "Fuzzymon, we'll find him. We can't give up."

"You." Kumamon suddenly turned and faced Rexmon. "It's your fault we're even in this mess in the first place!"

Rexmon went wide-eyed in surprise, but then put his head down in shame. "Fuzzymon."

Kumamon snorted and turned away from him. "We'll talk about this later. If it were the idiot, he make saving us his first priority and I refuse to let him be better than me." With that he again dove under the water.

With many new things on his mind, Rexmon dove back under the water determined to find me.

….

Meanwhile, under the water I was trying my best to hold my breath as I waited for my two digimon to come and rescue me. Somehow I had gotten separated from the two of them when we hit the water. I had tried to kick up to the surface, but didn't get very far so I opted to just wait in the water with my breath held.

_"I swear if those two don't find me soon I'm going to run out of air. Then I'll come back from the grave and haunt them forever."_ I raised the heat around my body as I felt myself sink a bit deeper into the water. _"Damn! This is the only reason I haven't sank all the way to the bottom. It sucks I didn't think of this until I had gotten this far down, otherwise I could've just floated to the surface. I swear if I get out of this I'm gonna learn to swim." _I covered my mouth as I felt more air escape my lungs. _"I'm gonna run out of air soon, so I'm gonna have to give them a signal to show them where I am." _And with that I let out all of the heat that I could, making the water around me begin to bubble. _"Hurry, you two._

….

Rexmon swam swiftly through the water, using his tail as a powerful rudder. _"Stanley-mon, where are you? If I don't find you Fuzzymon will get mad and he'll beat me up. But more than that, I'll be sad too."_ All his life, Rexmon had been alone in the wilds outside of Pyro City, hardly ever coming into any real contact with digimon. As most digimon had grown up in villages and had worked in harmony with each other, Rexmon did everything himself. He mostly acted on instinct, become feral when he felt threatened. In his feral state he had much better reflexes than digimon that were civilized and complacent. But as a downside he wasn't very social and was hostile towards the digimon he did come into contact with.

For some reason though when he wasn't in his feral state he was innocent and somewhat goofy. It was this side of him that prompted him to come to Pyro City every now and then and tend to hurt digimon. He was still somewhat feral, but the innocent side of him had a bit more influence over him. At around the time that started he to hear a voice in his head and that voice would always say one word. "Stanley," it would always say and with that word came images of a boy. In the images he saw bits and pieces of the the boy's life. He felt attached to him and had the strange urge to meet him, as if it was his destiny.

As he traveled alone he began to look forward to the day when they would meet. He could hardly contain his excitement as he walked into the clinic that day only to see the boy he had dreamed about for so long. He wasn't expecting the other digimon that was with him, Kumamon, but for some reason Rexmon felt a strange link between himself and the other digimon. He was surprised when he found out the two were looking for him, but didn't really believe that he was the one they were looking for at first. Instinctively he knew that a strange mark on his arm would link the three of them together and the rest was history.

They hadn't known each other long, but he had become even more attached to them then he originally thought. Kumamon, or "Fuzzymon" as he called him, was brash and hot headed, but showed concern when he or Stanley was in danger. Stanley was curious about the digital world and showed much compassion. For some odd reason though it seemed like he had something to prove to himself, often resulting in him jumping head first into situations without thinking at times. The two of them were Rexmon's family, ones that he could trust no matter what.

_ "They wouldn't leave me to fall if they had known I was in trouble. But I let fishy-mon and skully-mon trick me into thinking that. This is all my fault. I have to find him no matter what!"_

Rexmon spun his tail around even faster with a renewed effort and passed by an area in the water where there was a lot of heat and saw a mass of bubbles seemingly surrounding something.

_ "What is that?"_ He got closer to it and dispersed the bubbles with his claws. He wondered what could be generating that heat and then realized what was inside the bubbles. Frantically he pushed the bubbles aside until he revealed figure underneath.

_"STANLEY!!!" _he cried in his head as he accidentally opened his mouth from excitement and let out a bunch of air. He quickly closed his mouth and put his claws over it as he realized his mistake. With a giggle in his head he grabbed onto my nearly unconscious body and began to head up to the surface with all the speed he could manage.

….

Kumamon's head once again broke the surface of the water as he came up for another breath. "At this rate I'll be too late to save him! Where in the world that kiwi-head when you need him!?" he shouted as he looked around for the dinosaur digimon in question. Just as he was about to go down again something broke the surface of the water, splashing cold water on his already wet fur. He quickly wiped most of the water away from his eyes and stared at who had just come out of the water.

"Hey, fuzzymon! Lookie who I found!" He gave a huge, toothy grin as he raised my body up into the open air.

Kumamon gave an exasperated sigh then gave his own huge grin. "For this, I won't totally pound you into the dirt."

....

"Wake up, idiot." came a voice and then a sharp pain in my forehead.

I shot up abruptly then turned to my side to see Kumamon with a large grin on his face and his claw in a thumping position. "Did you just thump me?"

"Yup. But I think I'm entitled to a thump or two after what you just put us through. You're lucky Rexmon found you; otherwise, you wouldn't be alive right now. You might wanna thank him before we drill him for answers about what happened on the Whamon." He pointed over his shoulder to Rexmon, who was gathering berries in the bushes nearby.

"Rexmon?"

The dinosaur's head poked out of the bushes and smiled gleefully as the rest of his body slowly emerged. "Stanley-mon? You okay?"

I stood up slowly and looked down. "I'm fine, but where are my clothes?" Kumamon pointed to a nearby branch where my clothes were hanging and I walked up to them. "So how long was I out?"

"About a couple of hours I'd say. You were under the water for a long time so your clothes were extremely soaked. I had to take your clothes off and hang em on that branch. The the hot head dried them off with his flame. By the way, we're teaching you how to swim."

I chuckled as I quickly put my clothes back on and looked around. "I'm really glad there weren't any girls around to see me like that. But now we have more important things to worry about. How are we gonna get off of this island and get back to Kaizokumon's ship?"

"Don't know. Swimming would be useless since we flew a really long way and your not being able to swim would only slow us down. And since he's got the digivice there's no way for you to transform."

Rexmon bounded over to the two of us and gave his input on the situation. "Well even if we don't have the digi-thingy can't we just eat a digi-chip?"

I was about to say that that was a good idea, but Kumamon opened his mouth before I could. "We can't both eat the same digi-chip and the power wouldn't last long enough to get back to the ship. We'd end up stuck in the middle of the ocean, worse off then we are now. I guess we're out of options for right now."

"Effing perfect." I said with sarcasm. "So now what do we do?"

Rexmon sat down and stared at us. "Since we can't go anywhere we might as well eat." And with that he put down the berries in a pile and motioned for us to sit and eat.

Kumamon and I both shrugged and sat down as Rexmon began to stuff his face. He had gathered A LOT of berries.

"While we eat, I think kiwi-head should tell just exactly what happened on the ship and how those pirate got their hands on that cannon," said Kumamon as he grabbed a hand full of berries.

I nodded as I reached out and got my own pile of berries. I noticed Rexmon hung his head when Kumamon called him out, but I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gave him a confident smile when he looked up. "It's okay boy. I personally won't be angry about anything since I've made plenty of mistakes in my life. Mr. Perfect, on the other hand, my have a hissy fit." At 'Mr. Perfect' Kumamon scowled, but turned his head to hide a smile that he couldn't quite hold back.

Rexmon gulped down a big mouthful of berries and began to tell his tale. "Well I climbed the ladder to jump off the REALLY high board," he stretched his arms upward to emphasize how high the diving board was, "and I didn't see you guys anywhere. I fell off the back of the board and almost went bye-bye until scaly-mon and boney-mon saved me right before I went 'splat'."

My eyes went wide as I realized how close Rexmon came to being seriously injured while I was tending to Kumamon's sinkness.

"The two of them convinced me that they were my friends and that you two had just left me for no reason. I was really sad until they asked me to play pirates with them."

"Oh the irony." quipped Kumamon

"Shut it, Kumamon. Continue, Rexmon."

"Well they said we'd be looking for treasure and we traveled down to where that thingy was. We passed a couple of digimon on the way there and I thought it was part of the game."

_"Well that explains what happened to the guards we found."_ thought both Kumamon and I at the same time.

"And then I DANCED in a room with a lot of red lights. Scaly-mon and Boney-mon told me not to touch them and I didn't. Then we got into the room. But," he suddenly hugged himself and started to shiver. "That thing, it's scary. It gave me a bad feeling."

"What?" I asked.

Kumamon, on the other hand, didn't seem confused at all. "So you can sense the cannon's evil aura too. You're a 'chosen' digimon and we're in tuned to things like that."

Scratching my head I turned to Kumamon. "Kumamon, what exactly is the Nemesis Cannon? You make it sound like it's a living thing. Like a digimon."

"That's because it is a digimon. Or was made from the remains of one." I looked to Kumamon with wide eyes and Rexmon didn't look any less surprised than I was.

"Made from the remains of a digimon? What are you talking about?"

"A long time ago, during the last digital war, Quetzalmon ruled the lands with a malicious will. He was pure evil. But as evil as he was, there was one general of his that may have been even more sinister than he was. This digimon lived to kill other digimon and literally fed on their suffering. He would actually consume the digimon he terrorized after they were scared nearly to death. Even Quetzalmon was cautious of him, according to mother. When Quetzalmon felt like he had his back against the wall, he sent this digimon to the front line to fight my mother and the other digidestined. This guy was almost as difficult to beat as ole Quet himself. Eventually they defeated this guy, but Quetzalmon thought that since his remains could be turned into a weapon and that's exactly what he did. What he didn't realize was that his consciousness was still inside his remains and now possesses the cannon.

I was eating my berries like popcorn as he told the story, but almost choked on them during that last part. "That digimon's spirit is still in the cannon!?"

"Yeah. That Malo-Myotismon was one sick digimon."

"Malo....." started Rexmon.

"Myotismon," I finished.

....

Meanwhile, Kaizokumon sat in the cockpit of the Nemesis Cannon as he threw the digivice up and down in his hand. "Ah, dis be quite da prize I've gotten me hands on. And those digidestined be stuck on dat island until the sovereigns find em. But even bigger than that is dis puppy right here." He ran his palm over the controls of the Cannon.

**"Do you want power?"**

"What the?" Kaizokumon looked around at the sound of the sudden voice, but didn't see anyone. "Hmmm. Maybe I'm hearin things."

**"You are not hearing things, my friend."**

This time, Kaizokumon jumped up in the cockpit and started to look around frantically. Normally he wouldn't be afraid of anything, for everyone he met eventually feared him. But for some unexplained reason a intense fear began to grip him. He didn't see anyone around him and suddenly thought he was going crazy. "What in the world is going on? Could it be?" He looked down at the cannon and remembered how easily he seemed to pilot it. "The Nemesis Cannon!?"

**"I'll give you power. Bwahahahaha!"**

"NOOOOOOO!!!" came Kaizokumon's scream as a dark aura came up from the cannon and consumed him.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it was probably a bit rushed. Kumamon and Rexmon are currently planning my party so they won't be here to give and comments. Again, hope everybody had a good valentine's day and I'll see you next time. Be sure to review and wish me a happy birthday.**


	22. Possessed

**Hello readers, it's been a long while but I'm back with a new, but rather short chapter. Sorry for the long wait, but I've been going through A LOT of stuff and this little intro won't be very long as its very late into the night and I'm dozing off even as I'm writing this. So I'll just do the disclaimer and then you'll be free to read. Also there's a little joke that kinda has a double meaning. If you find it to be in bad taste then please come to me about it and I'll explain my reasoning. Anyway, here we go.**

**Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own digimon. Wish I did cause the franchise is AWESOME!**

"Aye, I hate doin me rounds on deck. There's never anything ta do," said a lone grunt Swabmon. It had been a few hour since they had captured the digidestined and now night had fallen over the ocean. He was just one of many of his species of digimon that occupied Kaizokumon's ship and it was his shift to make sure nothing unexpected happened on deck. Unfortunately for him thought he would be the first one to meet death.

_**"Hello."**_ said a voice in his ear that rattled his bony body. He turned around to meet the holder of the voice, only to come face to face with Kaizokumon. He let out a bated breath as he calmed down some.

"Yo dere captain. Your voice sounded different so I didn' realize it was you at first. I was just doin me daily rounds so if you'll excuse me." He turned around to continue his rounds, but found that Kaizokumon had somehow gotten in front of him again. "Um, is somethin da matter captain?"

_**"No. I just wanted to hear your screams." **_A flash of light and a splatter of blood later the Swabmon's rounds has ended. Permanently. As a digi-chip with a skull and crossbones design on the front of it fell to the ground Kaizokumon fell to his knees. _**"Curses. Seems like I can't use this body like I thought I could so soon. Also," **_He reached out with his hand as far as he could and watched as his hand started to tremble, as if it was fighting against the owner's will. _**"If I stray too far from my 'remains' I'll start to lose control of this vessel."**_ He pulled his hand back in closer to him and it immediately stopped trembling then got up walked up towards the Nemesis Cannon. _**"Curse that Quetzalmon for putting my body in this form, but at least I'm able to kill again. Somehow I, the great MaloMyotismon, will reign over this world. But until then, I'll have these peons believe that I am their precious captain."**_ And with that he hopped back into the cockpit of the Nemesis Cannon and pulled out Kaizokumon's gun. _**"At least I can make use of this digimon's power. Let the blood bath begin."**_

* * *

The Swabmon and Deckmon that had deceived Rexmon earlier were patrolling the cells near the bottom of the ship to make sure that no unexpected break outs occurred like before. After the digidestined had been literally thrown out to sea they volunteered to guard duty. Most of the crew thought that they just wanted the honor of watching the prisoners for their captain, but in reality they just wanted to be away from the ship's crew.

"Aye, Swabmon. Are ya feeling bad about what we did ta Chompers?" asked the fish digimon Deckmon as he walked around, checking to make sure all the locks were secure. The skeleton digimon in question was leaning against an empty cell, staring into it as if trying to see something that wasn't really there.

"Of course not, me matie. What in da world would make ya think dat?"

"Da fact dat yer starin into 'is cage so thoughtfully. To be honest, I'm feelin weird about it all. Aren't you?"

Swabmon clanged a bony finger against the iron bars and sighed. "I hate ta say it, but dat little fella's grown on me. I mean, I can still da look of plea in 'is eyes right before da captain launched 'im and 'is friends. Dat look is haunting me, Deckmon." he said to the fish digimon as he came up and leaned against the bars with his companion.

"If we hadn't shown up those two digimon wouldn' 'ave gotten caught in da first place. Ole Chompers was a beastly foe until he saw us. Then he softened up and da others took advantage of da confusion."

…....

_The two digimon watched from top of a staircase at the at the apparent carnage the two digidestined digimon brought to their fellow shipmates. The bear digimon looked to be a very skilled fighter as he ran circles around most of the enemies around him and reduced a good many of them into digi-chips. The other one though, the one they knew as 'Chompers' was like a complete animal as he struck down anything that moved, save for the bear digimon, with little to no remorse. The feral look in his eyes contained little emotion, save a natural instinct of survival. It anything seemed like a threat to him, then it was going down._

_The two winced as 'Chompers' gave off a loud roar at defeating another digimon. "Oi there Swabmon. I think Chompers may be a bit angry."_

_Swabmon could only sweatdrop as he watched the dinosaur digimon gave a glare at a group of digimon that were running towards him, effectively scaring the life out of them and making them change their mind about attacking him. "Really? I had no clue. Anyway, I really don't want to go out there. We'll be killed for sure."_

_On their ship they had a rule, a rule that every ship mate must fight for any intruders who make trouble on the ship and as first mates, Swabmon and Deckmon had to put up more of an effort than anybody else. Unfortunately, because they had already seen a little bit of what Rexmon could do they were a bit reluctant to do their duties as pirates._

_"Captain Kaizokumon is gonna kill us, isn't he?"_

_"Yup."_

_"I wouldn't have to worry about HIM killing you," came a third voice._

_Swabmon and Deckmon looked behind them only to see the bear, Kumamon, smirking at them. "Uh...."_

_Kumamon smiled brightly and simply said, "Boo." The two easily frightened digimon jumped and ran away from Kumamon, who grinned sadistically and gave chase. "GET BACK HERE AND GET SOME!!!"_

_They ran randomly around the other Swabmon and Deckmon in an effort to get away from the 'crazy' bear. Running around one pillar, they failed to notice something tall and red standing there staring at them. That is until they ran into said object._

_"Arg! Who put this big, red, fleshy pillar in the middle of the ship?" Swabmon said as he checked his skull to make sure there were no cracks in it while looking to Deckmon. For some reason Deckmon was gaping at the pillar. "Oi. What's wrong with you Deckmon?"_

_"Ch-ch-ch!"_

_"Spit it out!"_

_"Chompers!" he said before passed out._

_Swabmon looked forward, then up into the bright, yellow eyes of Rexmon. 'Well at least he's not feral right now.' "Hey there, Chompers!" he chuckled nervously, aware that Rexmon could go feral again if he felt threatened enough. "How are ya?"_

_Instead of answering, he puffed smoke out of his nose. Then he proceeded to circle around the digimon like a predator stalking its prey. "Why did you and Scaly-mon give me all those ouchies and throw me in that cage?" If Swabmon had an pores, he would've been sweating up a storm right now._

_"Well ya see our captain, da mon in the red coat, is a very mean digimon. He woulda killed us had we not attacked ya, but he wanted ya alive so you were somewhat safe." He began to panic some when he saw that instead of backing down, Rexmon had now crouched down low to the ground as if ready to pounce. At this point Deckmon had woken up and was now silently crying to himself._

_"It was choice between us facin' certain and you just gettin' roughed up a bit! Which one would you have chosen!?" he shouted._

_Rexmon stopped circling in front of them and stared at them with a piercing gaze. "I would rather die then let a friend of mine get hurt." he said softly, yet with a firm conviction._

_Swabmon and Deckmon stared at the dinosaur digimon with surprised looks. "Friend? Are ya calling us yer friends, even after all dat?" The digimon in question nodded._

_Kumamon had long given up chasing after the two cowards and as a fighter he didn't fight cowards. So while the three digimon were having their moment he was still going around beating up grunt digimon. "This guy has a LOT of flunkies, but not much on variety. YO KIWI-HEAD!!! WHERE ARE YA!?" He looked around as he had one digimon in a headlock. After a few seconds of searching he spotted a flash of red amongst all the pirate digimon. He was about to fight his way over to where his fellow digimon was, but stopped in his tracks when he saw what Rexmon was doing. "REXMON!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE CHATTING WITH THE ENEMY DIGIMON!!! KICK THEIR BUTTS!!!"_

_While he was momentarily distracted a lucky Swabmon managed to spear Kumamon, knocking the bear digimon back with a grunt. Taking advantage, any digimon that were close enough began to pummel poor Kumamon as much as they could._

_Rexmon had heard Kumamon's shout and looked over to see his friend being attacked viciously. "FUZZYMON!!! I'M COMING!!!" But before he could get a running start, some sneaky digimon jumped him and began to give him the same treatment they were giving Kumamon._

_They quickly bound Kumamon and Rexmon's arms together and forced them to their feet._

_"Let me go or I'll shove my fist in your mouth!" shouted Kumamon._

_Rexmon just looked pleadingly at Swabmon and Deckmon, but they only stared back._

_"First mates Swabmon and Deckmon. What should we do with these prisoners?" asked a lowly grunt Swabmon who was missing an arm, courtesy of Kumamon ripping it off while they were beating him._

_The two digimon just looked from Rexmon's eyes to the floor, not able to look him in the eyes after what he said._

_"Maties?" the grunt asked again. After realizing he wasn't going to get an answer he motioned for the others to drag the two captured digimon up to the upper level, to where Kaizokumon and the digidestined human were currently fighting. Swabmon and Deckmon just followed behind, unable to look up or say anything._

…_......_

"'I'd rather die than let a friend of mine get hurt.' I can't get those words out of my head because after all that he still thinks of us as his friends even after everything we did to him. Silly digimon," said Swabmon with a sad smile on his face.

"I'd hate to say it, Swabmon, but I think I've grown quite fond of that digimon. I mean what kind of digimon would put his friends before himself? Certainly nobody on this pirate ship, bunch of selfish gits."

Swabmon had a good laugh at that last part then continued to look thoughtfully into the empty cell. "But it makes you wonder. Maybe there are more important things than booty."

….......

I whistled as Kumamon and Rexmon finished up the story of how they got captured. "So that's how you got captured. It's really all Kumamon's fault." I suddenly lurched forward as Kumamon had grabbed the neck of my t-shirt and yanked me down.

"Say that again. I dare you. I double dare you! Say that one more time! I promise to put a lump the size your sword on top of your head!"

I grunted as I shoved Kumamon off me. "Well it kinda is your fault. If you hadn't have gotten distracted they wouldn't have jumped you. And they only jumped Rexmon because they were cocky from beating you. Before that it sounds like everybody was way too afraid of Rexmon to even come near him, so technically it's your fault."

Kumamon gave me a dirty look but didn't say anything as he did see some fault in his actions. Very little though.

"Stanley-mon, we need to find somewhere warm to sleep since it's dark and cold," said Rexmon. He wrapped his arms around his body and shivered. Kumamon made a face, walked over to Rexmon, and gave him a bop on the head.

"You can breathe fire you idiot! Why would we need to find some place warm?"

Rexmon thought about it for a minute and gave a goofy grin as he put his claws behind his head. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. But what do you do now, Stanley-mon? We need to rescue those digimon on the ship."

"I know, but first we need to get off this island. Yet, even if we do that we're really far behind so who knows if we'd be able to catch up to them." I got up and motioned for the others to follow. "Let's look for something useful."

We started to walk through the woods in search of something that we could possibly use to make a raft of something that we could use to cross the ocean, not that any of us knew exactly how to build a raft. There were plenty of trees to use but they were much too thick for a couple of rookies to tear down so the search was long and fruitless.

**"BEAR FIST!!!"** shouted Kumamon as he punched at a tree. The attack hit the tree but only managed to blast some of the bark off. That had been his tenth bear fist that failed to do any damage and he was starting to get worn out. "This is looking pretty hopeless. What happens if we can't get off this stupid island and continue on our journey?"

While we had been walking I had asked Rexmon to share some of his flames with me so that I could help with getting logs, but it wasn't much use. I winced as I fell to the ground, my blaze kick attack doing more damage to me than the trees. "I don't even want to think about that. Keep trying!"

Rexmon wasn't have much better luck and wasn't taking it too well at all. "Please fall down mr. tree. We need to get off this island," he said with a whine as he pushed against the tree with everything he had. Even his everlasting patience was starting to wear thin. "Grrrr!" He opened his mouth wide as he suddenly bit down on the tree. Kumamon and I looked at the scene with blank expressions as time seemed to stand still for him, until he gave off an ear shattering cry.

Mine and Kumamon's hands flew to our ears as the cry only got louder. "What in the world is wrong with him!?"

"I don't know! Rexmon, calm down!" I yelled. Rexmon immediately stopped crying, but tears were still pouring down his face. With the noise gone we uncovered our ears and walked up to Rexmon to see what was wrong with him. "Hey, boy. What's wrong?" I asked as I reached up to rub the top of his head.

"I hurt my tooth." he said with a sobbing voice. Beside me Kumamon was a second away from snapping.

"THAT'S IT!!! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!" Rexmon and I just looked at him as he took a deep breath. "THIS IS ALL HIS FAULT THAT WE'RE EVEN IN THIS SITUATION!!! IF HE HADN'T BEEN SO NIAVE AND BELIEVE THOSE TWO DIGIMON KAIZOKUMON WOULDN'T HAVE THE NEMESIS CANNON!!! AND IF HE HADN'T HAD WASTED TIME TALKING TO THOSE TWO ON THE SHIP INSTEAD OF BEATING THEM LIKE HE SHOULD WE WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN CAPTURED AND STUCK ON THIS ISLAND!!! AND ON TOP OF THAT, HE'S JUST A BIG CRY BABY!!!"

I was about to wallop Kumamon, but I froze as I heard a growl right below my chin. "Rexmon?" I looked down into the feral eyes of Rexmon. I backed away slowly as he turned in Kumamon's direction and walked forward. "Oh crap."

The moment he heard that growl, Kumamon had lost the boldness he had and froze like a statue. "Uh, I'm sorry about that Rexmon. There's no need to go that far." He started to back up as Rexmon stalked closer to him. "Come on kiwi-head. This isn't funny anymore." He started to sweat as he saw Rexmon crouch down low. Then he broke out into a run towards Kumamon. The bear digimon gave off a girly scream as Rexmon blew right past him and ran off into the forest.

"Stop screaming and come on your girly bear." I said as I slapped the back of Kumamon's head. He looked around, not seeing Rexmon in sight and followed after me into the forest.

"I thought for sure he was gonna get me!"

"Well you would deserve it after what you said to him. Now let's see where he's headed."

We followed Rexmon through the forest as he ran as though he was looking for something. He took us to the other side of the island as the sun had just begun rising over another beach. Rexmon stopped and stared out into the water as finally caught up and stopped to take a breather.

"Why in the world did you bring us here, Kiwi-head?"

Rexmon pointed towards something on the shore and said, "I sensed that digimon."

"Eh?" Kumamon and I both said. We looked out towards where Rexmon was pointing and saw something large and blue in the water. "That's a digimon? It's so massive!"

By now I had seen many different kinds of digimon, the biggest being SkullGreymon, but this digimon dwarfed even him. It was a large whale type digimon with a blue body and a hard, brown casing covering the top part of it's mouth and most of it's back. Brown "teeth" seem to extend from the casing as several normal teeth came from his jaw.

"What is that digimon?" I asked.

"It's a Whamon. I've never seen one in person before." Kumamon said in awe. Before we could show more of our wonderment Rexmon ran down to the shore and stared at the washed up whale digimon.

"Um, Kumamon. What's he doing?" I asked as we started run down towards the beach. In the state Rexmon was in there was no telling what he would do. We watched as Rexmon began to open his mouth wide.

"Oh crap! He's gonna attack him! No you idiot! No!"

We both fell on our faces as Rexmon licked the side of the Whamon. We felt the ground rumble some as the Whamon began to stir and immediately got to our feet. Kumamon reached up and grabbed Rexmon by the shoulders and began to shake him.

"What in the digiworld possessed you to do that!? That is an ultimate digimon and we can't even digivolve! Have you completely lost your mind!?"

"An ultimate?" I looked up as the large digimon opened his mouth and yawned. Kumamon stopped shaking Rexmon and looked at the digimon dumbstruck.

"We're so dead."

**This chapter is done but I'm not sure when the next one will be finished so try to not to get too impatient. On a side note the open beta for digimon online was release about a couple of weeks ago and it's pretty fun. If you have a chance some of you readers should check it out. I've had a lot of fun with it and it a nice little escape from all the world's problems for me. I'm on Mihira server as Kumafighter. Be sure to review. Later everybody.**


	23. Pursuit

**Long time, no see readers. So it's been about nine months since I've posted anything and I just wanted to say that I am so, so, so sorry for that. I know it's gonna sound like I'm complaining but my life has been getting in the way of my writing since spring break and it's caused me to have severe writer's block on this story up until now. I'd like to thank those that have been patient with me and have still been reading. I will admit that I'm kind of rusty but hopefully after a few chapters I'll be back in the swing of things. For those that have looked at Kamen Rider Rekka, I'd like to say thank you for the encouragement. Again that story and this one are in the same universe so expect some crossovers along the way. Now where are those digimon?**

**Rexmon: STANLEYMON!**

**Kumamon: Psh. Took you long enough. I'll only forgive you because you've been playing Digimon World 3 with me in your party. I'm so awesome.**

**Cubmon: Full of yourself as always, eh Kumamon?**

**Kumamon: Neko-jerk! Who said you could come out here before your part of the story!**

**Cubmon: -grunts- Just popping in to give a recap since it's been so long. Be glad the others didn't follow. Anyway, the last time you were with the three of them they had just beaten one of the sovereigns, Serpentmon and were crossing the ocean by cruise ship to the land of Stone by order of a message from the digivice. The ship was taken over by pirates, two of which Rexmon befriended. They were all captured and Stanley's digivice was taken away by the pirate leader, Kaizokumon, who raided the ship of a special weapon called the Nemesis Cannon. Using the cannon melee capabilities, Kaizokumon actually threw the three of them across the ocean to an uncharted island where they later found a Whamon that had washed ashore. Little did Kaizokumon and the others know that an evil spirit resided within the cannon. The spirit of MaloMyotismon, which has now possessed Kaizokumon.**

**Kumamon: Whatever. Can we just get on with the-**

**Rexmon: Isn't Digimon Xros Wars great! Taiki has a whole army of digimon.**

**An army huh? That gives me an idea.**

**Kumamon: No! No more distractions! I'm doing the disclaimer before I completely lose it!**

**Disclaimer: We're finally back everbody! Stanley does not own digimon! Enjoy!**

...

The entire island seemed to tremble as the large digimon opened it's mouth and let out a loud yawn.

"Something tells me this won't end well. Without my digivice we'll be stuck as we are. And if this a level above champion like you said then we won't stand much of a chance fighting it." I said worriedly.

Kumamon got into a fighting stance and clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Looks like I'll have to go wild then."

"What is it with you and fighting! Are you really in that much of a hurry to die, Kumamon!"

He grinned as he leaped forward and suddenly got Rexmon in a headlock. "No! I'm gonna kill this idiot for putting us in this situation in the first place!"

Rexmon gagged for air as Kumamon tightened his hold. "Fuzzymon, let go! **PYRO BITE!"**

Kumamon yelped as Rexmon bit down on his paw and breathed out a small blast of fire which singed his fur.

"OW! I'll teach you to try and light me on fire!"

I shook my head as I watched the two of them tumble in what looked like a miniature dust cloud. "Idiots, the both of them."

Light tremors shot through the ground as the behemoth of a digimon fully awakened and shifted in the sand. "What's with the noise?" It said in a loud, low, and lumbering voice.

The voice was also surprisingly kind, even more so because it was such a large digimon. "Uh, nothing. Just two idiots fighting. By the way, you're not gonna try to kill us are you?"

The large digimon have a rather hearty chuckle. "Oh no no, lad. Why in blazes would I want to do that? Wait a tick. You're not a digimon. Are you maybe a human?"

I breathed out a sigh of relief and smiled warmly at him. "Yes, I am. And I'm asking because most of the digimon I've met in the wild have tried to kill me. So excuse me for being a bit careful."

"Oh no excuses required, lad. But could you please do something about that racket? I've been napping for a long time and my ears are sensitive after waking up."

"Oh no problem, Mr. Whamon. Just give me a second." I walked up to the dust cloud and clocked them both in the head with the little remaining fire energy I had from earlier. "Will you two cut it out! Kumamon, you're freaking out over this guy and yet have you noticed that even though he's awake now he hasn't done anything to try and harm us yet?"

The two digimon rubbed the now baseball sized smoking lumps on their head as they backed away from one another, each one sporting bruises from their fight.

"Geez, you and your crummy flame powers. Did you really have to hit me that hard?" He growled as I nodded. "Well this dummy shouldn't go around licking the sides of large, too-strong-for-us-to-fight digimon. And are you sure he's not gonna try to kill us?"

"Aye, young one. I promise I'll cause you no harm. But since I'm stuck here in the sand I'll have some trouble getting back to the ocean. I've been stuck here for a few days."

"We'll try to help in any way we can, Whamon. But first Kumamon has to apologize to Rexmon for starting that fight. And Rexmon you have to learn to be more careful when doing things like that. We're lucky Whamon wasn't a malicious digimon."

"Yeah! What he said!" I gave Kumamon a look. "Fine. I'm sorry. But he is right about us being lucky."

"Eh? I knew he was a nice digimon. I could smell it."

A loud crash was heard as the jaws of Kumamon and I hit the ground. "HOW COME YOU DIDN'T TELL US BEFOREHAND!" We both yelled.

"I forgot hehe." he said as he gave one of his squeaky giggles.

"I swear you're like a little kid, Rexmon," I said as I palmed my forehead.

"Let me change the subject before I lose what sanity I have left," said Kumamon. "Whamon, you said you'd been here a few days. How'd you get washed up on the beach?"

"Well it all started a few days ago. I was traveling to the continent of Stone under the water and came up for air. But when I came up there was this large, menacing ship close by. I didn't really think anything of it at first, until they fired on me that is. They ran me ashore and I thought for a while that they were come ashore as well and kill me, but they turned tail suddenly and left. This island is uninhabited so I've had nobody to help me get back into the water."

"Kaizokumon's gang maybe?" I pondered.

"Sounds like something they'd do. Bunch of greedy pirates. Especially those two that got us captured. But if Kiwi-head was right about ole Whamon here then why was he wrong about them?"

I recalled something that I had seen right before we were launched to the island. "What if he wasn't wrong about them being good digimon? You were too busy trying to kill Rexmon, but I noticed that they showed a bit of reluctance in letting Kaizokumon do what he did. I not saying they're trustworthy, but from what I saw I don't think they're totally evil either."

"Psh. Whatever. I think we should stop trying to read the minds of thieves and help Whamon get back to the ocean. Let's get the glutton and get to work." He turned to where Rexmon was standing but saw him nowhere to be found. "What the?"

"I'm over here Fuzzymon!" he called as he tugged on Whamon's tail as hard as he could causing Kumamon and I to sweatdrop.

"You idiot! That's not gonna help at all! Now how are we gonna do this? Even if we were champions it would be hard to move a digimon this big."

"Well there might be something we could try." I looked at Kumamon and motioned for him to follow me to Whamon's front while Rexmon continued to tug on Whamon's tail in vain. "I have an idea."

"Well what is it genius?"

I dug into a side pocket on my pants and pulled out the digichips that I hadn't used since the incident in Paper Town. "Will I be able to use these even without my digivice?"

Well yeah, otherwise other digimon wouldn't be able to use them. While it's true that you can use your digivice to use their power, we as digimon can also use their power without the digivice. It's just that since Rexmon and I are digidestined digimon we get most of our power from you and the digivice. Normally when a digichip is used its energy absorbed by the digimon who uses it, with nothing being left of it afterwards. The digivice just harnesses its power so it can be used again. Why are you so curious?"

"Would Kuwagamon's chip get him up in the air long enough to get him to the water?"

"That's what you want it for! But they're our digichips, Stanley! Why should we waste them on digimon we don't even know?"

It's not a waste. It's our job to save this world right? Well that means the digimon that live here as well. So think of it as helping to save a tiny bit of the digital world. Don't tell me you're still distrusting of people."

"I'm not distrusting. I'm just reluctant because trust is what got us in the situation in the first place. Fine, we'll do it your way. The hyperwing chip should be able to get him to the water."

"Sounds like a plan to me." I took the digichip out of pile in my hand and gave it to Kumamon.

"Eh, Why are you giving it to me?"

"Give it to Rexmon. We wouldn't have found Whamon if it weren't for him so give him the honor of getting us all off this island."

"Psh. But if it weren't for him we wouldn't even be on this island in the first place. Why should I give him another chance to screw up?"

I was about to retort but had an idea. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Kumamon scoffed as he turned around... "I'd rather not. Yipes!" right into Rexmon. "Stop doing that!"

"I'm sorry Fuzzymon. What do you want me to ask the big digimon, Stanleymon?"

Kumamon reluctantly put the hyperwing digichip in his claws and pointed to Whamon. "If we give him the digichip he'll be able to float to the water, and hopefully he'll help us catch Kaizokumon. We have a score to settle so we need to do whatever we can to stop him."

"Alright, Fuzzymon. I have to see Scaly-mon and Boney-mon and give them a piece of my mind." As he said a demonic aura surrounded him, making Kumamon and I cower.

"Well youngsters, if we're gonna do this then let's get a move on. I don't mind giving you a ride and chasing them down. I'd like a little retribution myself." said Whamon, his lack of ears apparently not hindering his sense of hearing.

Rexmon stood in front of the colossal Whamon and the digichip began to glow in seconds as Whamon began to pull its power into him. The digichip lost its golden hue and turned gray as it's power flowed into Whamon and six large, white wings appeared on his back and he began to float slighty off of the ground.

"Does that always happen when a digimon uses a digichip directly? That looked so awesome!" I said with gleeful surprise. I didn't really show it much but I was still getting used to the digital world and I was like a kid when I saw something really cool.

"Now I can get off this island finally! Get on my back and we'll go find that ship," boomed Whamon as he floated a few feet above the water's surface.

Without wasting a second we all boarded the whale digimon's back and before we knew it we were leaving the island headed in the direction Kaizokumon's ship had been headed in. Unfortunately for us we weren't really the only ones on the island.

...

"So that was the digidestined was it?" said a black, humanoid shaped digimon as it stepped from behind a bush. "Not very impressive if you ask me."

"Ah shut up, Duskmon. He was able to beat ole Serpentmon. I'd say he must be plenty strong." said another digimon. The sound of knuckles could be heard cracking in the background, way more knuckles than what should have been possible.

"We all know that Serpentmon was always an overconfident fool, Shibamon. He was probably full of himself and made a mistake which the digidestined and his fools for digimon probably capitalized on. We should've killed them while they were on the island and basically powerless. Not let them get away and chase that accursed pirate Kaizokumon. They could ruin our plans for the Nemesis Cannon. Of have you forgotten about that that weapon is probably the only thing that can free the last of us earth sovereigns?" said Duskmon with great annoyance.

Shibamon scoffed as his words. "Well what would be the fun in killing them while they can't even fight back? That's a boring way to do things. As for the Cannon, whatever happens happens. You're way too uptight."

"I suppose someone such as yourself would say that, always laid back and lazy until its time to get serious. Even then you're not completely focused. That will someday be the end of you."

"Geez, at least _try_ to act like you'd me if I was gone. You sound gleeful compared to how you usually sound. Anyway, are we done here? This deserted place is making me depressed."

"Fine. The digidestined's ultimate destination is the Warrior's Palace across the ocean so we should get there first since we're not certain as to what is there waiting for him. Ikuze." He said as he seemingly vanished into darkness.

"That one is always so serious. Oh well, I guess he's a perfect balance for me. Time to go." There was the sound of several simultaneous claps and he too vanished from sight.

...

A couple of hours had passed since we had left the island and things seemed to be going smoothly. The wings had dissipated long ago, their energy spent flying us over the ocean for a number of miles. We were making good time and the ship could be seen just over the horizon.

"We're almost there. We need to come up with a plan for getting back my digivice and beating Kaizokumon." I said.

"You fought him while I looked for the glutton, didn't you? How strong is he?"

"The digivice said he was an ultimate, but we were pretty even. Mostly because he fought with that weird gun of his probably. He seems to favor using it instead of close quarter's combat."

"Stanleymon, what's a gun?"

"Rexmon, you idiot. How do you not know what a gun is? Actually that's a good question. What's a gun?" asked Kumamon.

I proceeded to facefault upon Whamon's back. Rexmon was a simple digimon, so something as technological as a gun should be a mystery to him. But Kumamon was a little more surprising.

"Well in my world a gun is something used to hurt people. It's a very bad thing when used by the wrong people. And-Kumamon?"

We both looked over to Kumamon who had been looking towards the ship. He eyes were slowly widening as we got closer and closer and a look of caution arose on his face. "There's smoke coming up from Kaizokumon's ship. And I smell death in the air."

Rexmon then suddenly crouched down and growled in the ship's direction. "I sense something evil, and strong."

"There's obviously trouble ahead young ones. Do you really want to go there?" said Whamon.

"Yeah. I don't know what's going on. But we're gonna get to the bottom of it.

**I hope you all enjoyed that and hopefully I can get more chapters done with soon. Some of you can probably guess what happened since last chapter showed the possessed Kaizokumon begin a killing spree. Let's hope its not too bad and that the passengers of the S.S. Whamon are alright.**

**Now about that army.**

**Kumamon: Not gonna happen. You're good with six digimon, four of which you still have to find in the story. Now where is that bloody Cubmon? I'm gonna kick his butt.**

**Cubmon's the next digimon to find and he did a good job with the recap. Why do you not like any of the new digimon I get?**

**Kumamon: You'll find out soon enough. Rexmon, stop hoarding food and help me find that jerk!**

**Rexmon: Yes sir!**

**Rexmon, why do you not like Cubmon?**

**Rexmon: You'll find out soon enough.**

**My digimon are so strange. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this short and chapter and please review because it would make an awesome Christmas present. Happy Holidays everyone!**


	24. Doubt

** So I haven't updated this story since right before Christmas because of a big work load from school. That's still better than a nine month hiatus right?**

** Kumamon/Rexmon: Nope, not by a long shot.**

** I hate both of you. Anyway, do my recap.**

** Kumamon: Fine. Last time you were with us Rexmon was about to "attack" a Whamon.**

** Rexmon: hehe. Sorry.**

** Kumamon: Anyway, with the help of the Whamon we were able to get off of the island and pursue Kaizokumon's ship. Unfortunately something happened to Kaizokumon while we were on the island and now he's gone insane. We arrived to a smoking, damaged ship with no idea what was going on. Now we're at the present.**

** Rexmon: For those of you that missed the sovereigns, there is a little about them at the beginning of the chapter. Be sure to enjoy.**

** Anyway I did get two reviews since I last updated and they were much appreciated. I have to say though that for those of you readers who don't have a profile, please leave some kind of pen name when you review so I can know who to thank. Also to my two regulars: Catching Rain and Fourtress101, I haven't heard from you two in a while so I hope you haven't given up on the story. One more chapter after this and this pirate arc will be over and updates will come more frequently. Well there's my two cents. You two do my disclaimer.**

** Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own digimon. Now please read and review.**

Back with Takamon, the talk with Poseidonmon had been uneventful. A little tactical advice here and there and he was free to go. Now he was walking down the hallway with Irukamon at his side.

"So are you going to File Island now, my friend?"

"Yes. I still want to check out the anomaly I picked up. I'm not sure when I'll be back though. It's a fairly distant place. Could take me a while to travel."

"Well take care my friend. And do not forget our talk," Irukamon said as he patted Takamon on the head.

"I won't. Try to stay out Poseidonmon's way while I'm gone. You know how unruly he can be."

"I will take your advice. I shall see you upon your return."

They walked outside of the cave and Takamon spread his wings. "Well I'm off. Be sure to keep me posted on Stanley's progress." And with that he flapped his wings and took off like a shot.

_"It's odd how Takamon insists on calling the digidestined by his name. Seems he's taken more than just interest in him. More like admiration."_ Irukamon thought to himself and walked back into the cave.

"So where has our young friend gone to, Irukamon?"

Irukamon jumped in surprise then glared at Poseidonmon as his heart rate steadied. "It's only you, Poseidonmon. You frightened me."

"It's unbecoming of a digimon of your stature to be frightened. You should be ashamed," he scoffed.

"All of your joking aside, he's gone off on a little excursion for some fresh air. Cave life can be a tad bit suffocating after a while."

"Understandable. Come with me would you please. We need to have a discussion," He turned to walk deeper in the cave and Irukamon reluctantly followed.

...

Takamon cried out in jubilation as he sped through the skies. Being an aerial digimon he was not very comfortable on the ground, let alone in a cave.

"If we're supposed to be the supreme digimon of our race then why are we holed up in some cave? You think we'd be in some huge palace or something." He let out another cheer as he caught an air current and went even faster than before. "This is what I've missed. The open skies! At this rate I'll get to File Island in no time."

**"WING BLADE!"**

A fiery, bird shaped attack suddenly hit Takamon from behind and sent him plummeting through the sky. He managed to catch himself and looked around frantically in search of his assailant. "Who's out there? Show yourself."

For a few seconds there was silence but then Takamon was struck in the back by someone's fist and sent spiraling forward. When he caught himself again he was facing his assailant, A garudamon.

Garudamon was a large humanoid bird digimon that was covered mostly with with reddish brown feathers. The feathers on the lower part of its body were much thicker than on its upper body. Around Garudamon's thighs were thick white stripes, with digicode written between them. Garudamon's hands, talons, and large end feathers on it's wings were yellow with two red strips one each. It's head was bird like, covered by a reddish, brown helmet with blue markings and a single white feather protruded form the top of the helmet.

"A Garudamon? Why did you attack me!"

"I recognize you as one of those sovereigns that have been terrorizing our digital world. I have a free chance to take one of you bastards down and I'm going to take it. Now die!" Garudamon rushed towards Takamon but Takamon quickly swooped out of the way and slammed into the larger bird's side.

Garudamon grunted in pain and threw the champion digimon away from him. "You're exceptionally strong for a champion level. This may not be as easy as I thought."

"Good. I don't want it to be easy to kill me." **"SONIC SIREN!" **An ear piercing screech was emitted from Takamon's beak. The sound waves hit Garudamon right in the face and his roared in pain as his upper talons flew to his ears.

"What! What is this!"

"Your defeat." Takamon simply said. **"FEATHER BLADE!"** Takamon flew at Garudamon with intense speed as his end feathers began to glow bright white and became razor sharp. At the last second he twisted his body in a way a duel swordsman would when slashing an opponent. The sharpened wings slashed across Garudamon's chest and from the wounds erupted a fountain of blood. Clutching his wound Garudamon bowed his head as Takamon hovered nearby behind him.

"I see. You really are a genius with those techniques. You can go ahead and finish me."

"Nah. I don't like killing. Despite what the other sovereigns are doing, I'm not like the rest of them. I don't like any of this anymore than you do but I was chosen as a sovereign and I have a duty to the others."

"If you do not agree with their ways then why are you their lapdog? How can you condone what they do! Look at our world!" Garudamon waved his arm to the side in a gesture and he looked to the ground.

Takamon followed his gaze. The grounds below were charred as if a grand fire had taken place. With his keep sight Takamon could see digimon below fighting. _"Those are our forces. What on earth?"_ he thought to himself. "This is just a wasteland. What would they want here?"

"A wasteland? This was once a forest! Over time your armies started destroying this land until this was all that was left! If you're as you say you are then how can you continue to allow this to happen?"

Takamon was at a loss for words. "I...I don't know." He turned away from Garudamon and flew off like a shot.

Garudamon stared after his retreating form. "So young. He had no idea as to how bad things really were."

...

_ "We, the sovereigns that govern this digital world, offer you the chance to join our ranks, Young Takamon."_

_ "Me? But why me? I am merely a champion digimon with no social standing." _

_ "That may be so, but we have been observing you for a while. Your rate at which you learn things is simply astounding. You're also a strategic genius, having staged various battles against tyrant digimon."_

_ "Well yes. I feel like I have a calling to help digimon. Almost like instinct."_

_ "Instinct you say?"_

_ "Yes, I can't really explain it. Kinda sad for a genius huh?"_

_ "I don't believe so. But if you become a sovereign you can do so much more than you did when you were through your lonesome means. Think of all those you could help."_

_ Takamon thought it over a second then shook the older digimon's hand. "I accept your offer Lord Poseidonmon."_

_..._

Memories of the past flowed into Takamon's mind as he flew further and further away from Garudamon towards File Island.

"So this is what I've really been doing with my power. Helping them to take over instead of helping defenseless digimon like I had intended. The evil digimon I thought we were fighting were no more than good digimon trying to stop us. I was kept in the dark about most things but I still should've realized what was going on. Some genius I am. But if they're really taking over then they really are trying to kill Stanley instead of testing him. I'm sorry Irukamon but I can't continue to let this go on. After I'm done at File Island I'll find Stanley and help him. I will not let this go on!"

...

"Achoo!"

"Hey, Stanley. You okay there?" Kumamon asked.

"Yeah. It's probably just all the smoke from Kaizokumon's ship. I wonder what happened."

"As do I, young ones," said Whamon from below. "Your dinosaur friend seems to have an idea though."

Knowing that he was referring to Rexmon, Kumamon and I looked over to see him inhaling deeply.

"Rexmon/Glutton?"

"I smell something dark, the same dark thing I smelled from that cannon. But it's a lot stronger this time."

"Stronger? This can't be good. Kumamon, didn't you say that it was made from MaloMyotismon's remains?"

"Yeah, but mom always told me he wasn't actually dead. They couldn't kill him but they managed to seal his soul away in his body somehow, making it inactive. Quetzalmon just reconstructed his body into the Nemesis Cannon afterwards without knowing that."

"Could his soul possibly get out?"

"...oh crap. Do you think maybe the seal broke and he got out?"

"Well it might explain this darkness that Rexmon keeps talking about."

"Stanleymon, do we have to go on that ship? It feels dangerous."

"Unfortunately yes. I have to back my digivice or we're screwed. Whamon, can you get us closer to the ship?"

"That won't be a problem. Hang on tight!"

The three of us held our footing Whamon swam closer to the ship.

"Now we gotta find a way to get to the bow of the ship." Kumamon said.

"I can get you up there, young ones. The three of you go stand on my blow hole."

I looked down questioningly. "We're going to get wet, aren't we?"

Now Kumamon and Rexmon looked just as hesitant as I did. "Oh screw it! Let's just get it over with so we can dry up afterwards."

Kumamon, always looking on the bright side of things.

"Alright, let's go you two." The three of us stepped onto Whamon's blow hole and the pressurized water lifted us from his back and up into the air. Without hardly getting wet we stepped onto the bow carefully and looked back down to Whamon in the water.

"Whamon, we'll be back shortly with the ships passengers. Stay here in case we need backup."

"You got it! Be careful!"

We turned away from the edge and surveyed the ship's deck. It was not pretty.

"The air is pretty thick with the smell of blood."

Kumamon's observation was indeed correct. All over the deck was blood and digichips. A lot of heavy damage had also been inflicted on the ship itself. It was riddled with bullet holes and what looked like cannon fire.

Looks like somebody's been taking MaloMyotismon's carcass for a ride."

"Either that or it's been taking itself for a ride. So what do we do first? Find my digivice, or go save the hostages?"

"The hostages!" said Rexmon suddenly. "Either way we'll have to fight so we could at least get the hostages to safety so they won't get hurt by our fighting."

Kumamon grinned. "I hate to say it, but I couldn't have said that better myself. We help the passengers first and then we kick Kaizokumon's or whoever's butt."

"Thank you, Fuzzymon. I know I did a bad thing earlier but I'm ready to make up for it."

"Alright, but only if you stop with the whole 'Fuzzymon' thing."

"Nope," he said as he stuck out his tongue.

"Fine. Just be sure to kick lots pirate butt and if you face those 'buddies' of yours then do what you need to do."

Seeing the two of them get along like they were so suddenly made me excited. "I'm enjoying the fact that you're getting along but lets stop talking about it and just do it already." I led the other two towards the stairs that led to the inner sanctum of the ship. The stair creaked with every foot/paw step as we went deeper and deeper into the ship. We did not encounter a single guard.

"This is getting really creepy. Hey, rexxy, you smell anything?"

Rexmon paused a moment and gave several brief sniffs. "Just more blood. I do smell digimon a little further down though."

"That should be where the dungeons are. Hopefully that means the passengers are still alive. Stanley. Rexmon. Let's go."

The two of us nodded and all three of us bolted to the bottom of the stairs to the lower area of the ship where Kumamon and Rexmon had previously fought Kaizokumon's subordinates. "The dungeon is down this way!" shouted Kumamon as he pointed across the room to a closed door. He ran up to it and jumped into the air as his leg began to glow.

**"KUMA KICK!"** He kicked through the door and waited for us to come in. "After you, ladies."

I glared at Kumamon as I stepped past him, but the joke completely went over Rexmon's head. Immediately shouts and cheers hit us like a truck. The passengers seemed really happy to see us for some reason, but they weren't the only ones.

"Chompers!" A few of the Swabmon and Deckmon were down there with the prisoners, but it looked like they were hiding from something rather than guarding the digimon in the cells. The two digimon that had called Rexmon ran up to him and actually hugged him.

Kumamon scoffed quietly to himself as he watched the scene.

"Kumamon, I don't think they're as bad as they let on. Besides, if you beat them up now then they won't be able to tell us anything."

"Alright. Alright. But if they step even one scale or bone out of line then they're both getting a Fuzzy Roundhouse to the face."

"Chompers, we're happy ta see ya safe matie. You gotta believe us when we say that we didn' want dat ta happen to ya."

"But you guys tricked me. I thought you were my friends."

"It started off dat way, but you're a good mate. Way better than da captain."

Rexmon was skeptical. "I don't know if I can trust you two. Stanleymon and Fuzzymon didn't leave me like you said."

"Please, Chompers? We'll make it up to ya. Promise."

Silence. Then, "Okay. But you have to tell us what happened here. Then help us get these digimon out of here."

The two pirate digimon nodded and motioned for the other Swabmon and Deckmon to start unlocking the cages. The prisoners were released and did not wait for instructions. One extremely impatient digimon plowed up the stairs.

"WAIT! DON'T GO UP THERE!" one Swabmon yelled. That digimon turned around and scoffed at the pirate.

"And why should I listen to you? Your lot boarded our ship and took us all captive for no reason! You probably want to keep us prisoner! Come on, everybody. Let's go!" He turned back around and continued up the stairs as all of the now liberated digimon murmured amongst themselves and began to follow.

Kumamon, Rexmon, and myself had seen all of the carnage so we tried to urge them not to go up the stairs. There was suddenly a loud thump from up above on the deck that made everybody stop. The atmosphere got tense as no one moved or said a word.

Rexmon tugged on my shirt to get my attention. "Stanleymon, that darkness is really strong now."

"I'm with him on this one," said Kumamon. "Even I can feel it now."

We all quickly dashed to the bottom of the staircase and looked at the top. A few seconds passed before the door at the top was yanked open and that same digimon started sprinting down the stairs screaming his lungs out.

"HELP ME! HE'S GONNA KILL ME!"

The three of us made a move to help him, but were too late as he was suddenly slashed in half. Blood was splattered on the walls just before he exploded into particles.

"What the hell?" Save for the whole particle thing, it looked and felt like something out of a horror movie. A black figure that apparently killed the digimon flicked its claw, slinging blood off of it, then looked down to us at the bottom of the steps. Glowing, blood red eyes seemed to pierce through us all. The figure took a step down the staircase and we all took a step back along with him. He continued coming down the step and with every step he took that feeling of dread became worse. I was feeling it worse than anyone.

"It hurts," I said weakly as I clutched my heart. My breathing became labored and I dropped to my knees. The figures on the staircase smirked so broadly it was visible even in the darkness.

"Stanley!" Kumamon shouted and immediately pulled my arm across his shoulder and began to drag me backwards as Rexmon guarded our escape.

**"PYRO SHOT!"** The fire blast impacted against figure's chest but did no damage. But what it did manage to do was illuminate the figure.

"Kai-kaizokumon," I said as I became close to passing out.

"No," Kumamon said. "Something's not right about him."

Rexmon's growl could be heard as he backed away from the figure. "The darkness is coming from him." Rexmon looked past Kumamon and I to the passengers. They were all backed up to the cells, attempting to get as far away from Kaizokumon, or whoever it was, as they could. But there was nowhere to go."

"Crap! If we could digivolve things would be different." As if on cue Kaizokumon reached into his coat and pulled out my digivice and shook it in a mocking fashion. "Great, now the jerk is taunting us."

He procedded to take another step forward but stopped midstep. He seemed to struggle against some invisible wall but could go no farther.

_"Now's our chance,"_ thought Rexmon to himself. He turned around, swept both Kumamon and myself onto his shoulders, and ran back into the room before slamming the door behind him. After he set us on the floor Kumamon got up and walked up to Swabmon before grabbing him by the skruff of his shirt and shaking him.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on! No way was that the same Kaizokumon from earlier. I suggest you start talking."

Swabmon gulped. "We ya see, it all started last night."

...

As Swabmon began to tell the story, unbeknownst to us, a hovering figure approached the ship.

"So I guess my gut instinct was right on the money. MaloMyotismon is on that ship despite us sealing him so long ago. I hope my drills are powerful enough for this."

...

"We were all sleeping peacefully, save for me and Decky here since we were still feelin' guilty for what happened earlier, when we started hearin' things from up top. We didn' really think nothin of it at first cause it was real faint. Then the screaming started. Apparently some of the others got concerned and went ta check things out. They thought maybe the Nemesis Cannon was being stolen from under our noses and dat maybe there was a struggle. But the mons that went up there never came back. The screams were louder by now and it sounded like they were being torn apart. We were worried about da captain so we finally got up and went ta take a look. What we found was carnage. Pure, unadulterated carnage. And standing right in the middle of it all was captain Kaizokumon, more blood crazed than I had ever seen a mon. We had always been afraid of the captain, but this was borderline demonic fear we're talking about here."

"You probably weren't too far off if my guess is right," said Kumamon. _"I think he's been possessed by MaloMyotismon," _he thought to himself. But he needed more info. "He was toying with us back there. Stanley, you fought him earlier. What was he like then?"

By now I had calmed down some, but could still feel Kaizokumon's presence on the staircase.

"He wasn't exactly a fair fighter but he sure wasn't whatever the hell THAT was."

Kumamon looked at me closely, as if he didn't recognize me. "Stanley? You're shaking. Hey. Oi!" He dove just in time to catch my head and keep it from hitting the wooden floor as I suddenly fainted. "Stanley!"

"Fuzzymon what happened to Stanleymon?" Rexmon asked in concern. His eyes looked sorrowful.

"That dark aura had more of an effect on him than it does on us digimon, probably because of him being human. We may be on our own here buddy."

"But we can't digivolve without him, and Stanley fights too."

"Yeah, we're basically screwed. It's a good thing he can't come all the way down the steps."

"Excuse me," Deckmon finally spoke up. "I noticed that he doesn't go too far from the Cannon. Could that have something to do with it?"

Kumamon gently laid my head down and motioned for Rexmon to follow him. "I think it has something to do with it and I think you guys will be safe down here. Me and this guy are going up there to try and stop him," he pointed to Rexmon who blinked. "Any able mon who thinks they can help us is welcome to. If not then just stay down here." The two looked around at all the digimon. None looked like they would lift a finger to help.

Rexmon was put down by this but put up an optimistic from anyway. "It's alright. We'll make sure you all get off safely. Boneymon. Fishymon, take care of Stanley while we're gone."

The two digimon looked surprised that he was trusting them to guard me, but they nodded. As the two digimon turned away from the others to head up the staircase, they whispered to one another.

"We're gonna need a miracle to beat this guy, Rexmon."

"Ditto."

**Well there we go. Next chapter will be the big fight and the last chapter of the pirate arc. It's just one big fight so it shouldn't take long to have it done with. Again please review. And I'll give a cookie to whoever guesses who the digimon was that was flying towards the ship. Laters.**


	25. Sacrifice

**So this chapter only took me about three weeks to finish and its probably one of my longest, if not the longest chapter so far. This is the last chapter of the pirate arc and after this we'll move back to the story. I got no reviews since last chapter, but the story was favorited by The Three Kings. I hope you're enjoying the story so far.**

**Kumamon: Last time we found our way back to Kaizokumon's ship, only to find that most of his crew had been mysteriously slaughtered by Kaizokumon.**

**Rexmon: Because of his evil aura, Stanleymon passed out and me and Fuzzymon went to fight Kaizokumon alone. He still has Stanleymon's digivice so we can't digivolve.**

**I don't really have too much to say so I'll just get Kumamon and Rexmon to do the disclaimer and you all can get started reading. Don't forget to review afterwards.**

**Disclaimer: You know we don't own Digimon. Why do we have to keep doing this?**

"You ready? It's just gonna be me and you. So I'll understand if you're scared."

Rexmon smiled nervously as the two digimon ascended the stairs. "I'm scared, but I'm sure we'll win. We're fighting together after all. And I believe in Fuzzymon."

"Why?" asked Kumamon.

"Because me and Fuzzymon are supposed to be a team. I wish the other four were here though. It would make me feel better."

"The other four." Kumamon had forgotten that he was not supposed to be my only digimon. _"I was the one who found Stanley and brought him here so it's like I laid claim to him or something without realizing it. I completely neglected that there's supposed to be six of us fighting together at some point. It hasn't sunk in that Rexmon is the same as me. He may have been too trusting, but I used to be the same way."_

He reached under the front of his hat and traced a claw over his crescent moon shaped scar. "I was naïve, but somehow this is different. I wanted to believe in others. He's just kind."

"Fuzzymon, is he up there?"

Kumamon was pulled from his thoughts by Rexmon's question.

"What? Oh yeah." He looked up the staircase and found it deserted. "I don't see him. I don't feel him either."

"Well, what now then?"

"He's obviously toying with us, so let's find him first. We'll find a way to beat him."

Rexmon nodded in agreement.

"Let's go."

The two of them let out a battle cry and sped up the rest of the staircase. As they reached the deck they got into battle stances, back to back. It was quiet.

"See anything, Rexmon?" Kumamon asked looking around.

"No. Let's look around."

"Alright, but let's stay back to back, Rexmon. That way he can't sneak up on us."

"Right."

They started to walk along the deck, towards the back of the ship. The only thing back there was the Nemesis Cannon.

"You think he's in there?"

Rexmon sniffed a few times and shook his head. "I don't smell him."

"Great," Kumamon sighed. "He has to be around here somewhere."

Rexmon suddenly grabbed Kumamon's arm and yanked him towards him.

"Hey what's the big idea!" Kumamon got the idea when suddenly heard a whizzing and turned his head as something crashed into the exact place he was just standing. Kumamon's eyes bugged out of his head as he saw the large hole then he turned back to Rexmon. "I owe you."

"Big time." Rexmon gave a rare grin which Kumamon returned and both of them turned to the hole.

"There you are, you murdering bastard." Kumamon said in distaste.

Kaizokumon stepped out of the hole and faced the two with an evil smirk. "Hello, digidestined digimon." His voice sounded off. There was his regular tone, but underneath it was a much deeper on. It made his voice distorted and creepy.

"Fuzzymon, he sounds weird."

Kumamon clenched his fists as he resisted his instinctual urges to run. "So I was right. Guess since you couldn't use you own body, you decided to take Kaizokumon's for a spin. Isn't that right, MaloMyotismon?"

This time Rexmon's eyes bugged out of his head in realization as Kaizokumon's, now revealed to be MaloMyotismon, smile widened.

"Bingo, kiddie."

"Rexmon, let's go!"

Rexmon nodded as they went on the offensive. **"PYRO SHOT!"** Rexmon fired multiple fire balls at M-Kaizokumon as Kumamon jumped into the air that impacted against his chest, but did nothing to harm him.

"Pitiful," he scoffed.

"Then take this!" Kumamon started to spin in the air to gain momentum as his leg started to glow brightly. **"FUZZY ROUNDHOUSE!"** The kick landed right at the side of his head, but barely managed to budge him. Kumamon was about to punch him, but had glimpsed something in M-Kaizokumon's pocket. "Stanley's digivice!" He reached for it but was blown off of M-Kaizokumon's body by a sudden outburst of aura.

Rexmon got into Kumamon's flight path and caught the bear digimon. "You're welcome."

"I owe you two now. But I saw the digivice in his pocket. Now that we know where it is we can work on getting it back."

"I can tell this is gonna hurt." Rexmon frowned.

...

Back in the holding cells the sounds of the battle from above echoed. "Well they're still fighting so they haven't died yet. Maybe they have a chance," said a Monzemon.

"No, dey probably don't." said Deckmon. "Da captain's an ultimate digimon. Two rookies won' be able ta damage him much, if at all. He's probably just toyin' wit em.

"Yeah, but if dey could somehow digivolve, dey would stand a better chance. Especially wit dis guy right here." Swabmon nodded at my unmoving figure.

"Him?" said one of the liberated digimon. "Isn't he just a human? What could he possibly do?"

One of the lower ranked Swabmon got up and shoved the digimon. "Are ya callin me matie a liar? I got half a mind to throw ya back in the brig."

The other digimon grabbed the Swabmon but the collar of his pirate shirt and lifted him into the air. "Just you try it. We're out now and we're not gonna go back in. So if you want to put any of us back in those cells then you're gonna have to beat us."

"Fine then." The Swabmon pushed him off and prepared to punch him in the stomach, but the lead Swabmon grabbed his arm before he could.

"Oi! Stop it, all a ya! We may 'ave boarded your ship and kidnapped da lot of ya, but right now we're all in danger. So unless we stick together, none of us are gonna survive!" shouted the main Swabmon.

The two digimon that had started the fight backed down and looked away from each other. Outside of that very spot, the flying digimon from before passed a retreating Whamon.

"Whoa! What's the rush buddy?" said the digimon to Whamon.

"My friends are fighting pirates right now, but the ship they came on was abandoned so I'm going to retrieve it. A little surprise for when they win."

"Alright, well I think they're gonna be fighting a little more than pirates. You go get that ship and I'll go help your friends out. Excuse me." He flew on ahead as Whamon proceeded to find the S.S. Whamon.

The digimon floated to the side of Kaizokumon's ship. "Hmmm, I hear voices inside." He used the drills that made up the claw on his right arm to drill a hole in the wood. The digimon inside saw the hole and began to back away.

"What is that? I can still hear the sounds of the fight on the deck so it can't be that Kaizokumon character."

The digimon poked his head in. He had a yellow, bug like face and a large drill where his mouth should have been. "Hmm, with all the commotion going on I thought the fight was happening right here."

All of the digimon in the room shook their heads in unison and all pointed to the ceiling above.

"Oh, I see now. In that case, stay down here where it's safe."

All of the collective digimon nodded again in unison. The insect digimon was about to back out of the hole he made but stopped when he caught a glimpse of me on the ground.

"That amount of evil aura must have been too much for him." He backed out of the hole and flew up to the battle that was taking place.

"Wasn't that Digmon?" Asked one digimon. Imaginary light bulbs seemed to light up above every digimon's head as they realized what just happened.

"That was the legendary digimon, Digmon! We have a chance at survival now!"

Swabmon looked down at me as my face began to contort in discomfort. "Somehow I don't think it'll be that simple."

...

My back hit the wall and I feel facefirst into the hard ground. "I don't understand any of this. I was just in the digital world, so how can I be back home?"

The sound of footsteps came closer to me as I lifted myself to my feet.

"Chase," I said with distain.

My bully gave a cocky smile and popped his knuckles. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but I know that I'm gonna beat your face in. C'mere you weak piece of shit." He reached for me but I knocked his arm aside and threw a quick right jab towards his face. He caught my fist, turned his back to me and elbowed me in the rib cage, then threw me over his shoulder.

I quickly got on my hands and knees and tried to scurry away from him. Being the stalker type bully, he calmly followed after me, knowing I would not get far.

_"What the hell is going on here!"_ I thought to myself. _"I know I don't have full control of my powers just yet but I should still be able to pulverize him without my fire powers. It's like I'm back to where I was before I came to the digital world." _I turned around and ran up to face him. **"BLAZE KICK!"**

This time I managed to jump a considerable height, before he simply grabbed my leg and yanked me painfully back to earth. It now hurt just to keep my eyes open. I struggled to keep them open as Chase stood over me with his fist cocked, ready to throw the final blow.

"Time to die."

My eyes closed just as he threw the punch but I didn't feel anything collide with my face. "What the hell?" I opened my eyes, expecting to see chase still standing over me, but instead I was once again in the white void. "This place again? Guess I know who's behind this then." I inhaled deeply before shouting as loud as I could.

"COME OUT YOU HUGE FLAMING CHICKEN!" Not a second passed before the room was filled with fire and the fiery silhouette of a large bird filled the void.

"I would rather not be referred to as simple poultry, if you don't mind."

I narrowed my eyes. "And I would rather not be pulled here while I'm in the middle of a fight. Where are Kumamon and Rexmon?"

"Your valiant comrades are currently battling MaloMyotismon, who possessed the digital pirate's body while you were away"

I hung my head at that realization. "So that really was MaloMyotismon. But why am I here? I remember talking to Kumamon one moment, and the next I'm in the human world getting my ass handed to me by Chase."

"Well that's what MaloMyotismon's aura does to humans. It fills them with fear and makes them go into a dream like state where they battle their worst fears. Your predecessors went through a similar challenge when they fought him before. I pulled you out of that dream."

"So that's why I did so poorly. So how are the others doing?"

"They are currently being manhandled, but some help has just recently arrived. Although it won't nearly be enough to stop him."

"So what do we do then?"

"You're going to go fight after I send your consciousness back into your body. I'll loan you a little of my power but it won't last. Get back your digivice before that happens. And remember, you do not have nearly enough strength to destroy him. But you may be able to trap him. His soul may be currently possessing Kaizokumon, but it is also still tethered to his original body. Also, Kaizokumon's body is not able to handle all of his power at one time, so his current strength is limited to Kaizokumon's body can take. Use that to your advantage. Now go!"

I was just about to ask a question before I was forcefully ejected from the void.

...

**"BEAR FIST!"** The energy attack soared but fizzled out as M-Kaizokumon knocked it aside. Kumamon and Rexmon gasped for breath as they grew more and more tired. Nothing was working.

"This guy is really starting to piss me off. We can't even get near that digivice."

"We can't give up, Fuzzymon."

Kumamon looked over to Rexmon as Rexmon's eyes went wide. "Fuzzymon! Above you!"

Kumamon looked up to see M-Kaizokumon standing over him, bringing his arm down to smash Kumamon's head. Thinking quickly Kumamon balled his paw into a fist and threw an uppercut at lightning speed. **"FUZZY UPPERCUT!"** The attack had just enough speed and momentum to deflect the blow and send M-Kaizokumon's fist into the decking. Unfortunately Kumamon's quick thinking was costly. Kumamon used all of his strength to deflect the powerful blow and was now completely spent.

M-Kaizokumon quickly got back to his feet and raised his fist again. Kumamon backed away as he held his injured arm and Rexmon bounded over and grabbed Kumamon in his claws, continuing to move out of the way of M-Kaizokumon's fist.

The two digimon skidded to a halt and Rexmon put Kumamon on the ground. "Are you okay?"

Kumamon held his arm as a trickle of blood streamed through his fur. "Damn, that's three now. I'll be fine, but I'm completely spent. I don't even have enough energy to dodge anymore." The two digimon turned as M-Kaizokumon stood up and turned towards them, bending his legs as if preparing for a jump. Rexmon grabbed Kumamon's uninjured arm in his teeth gently and swung Kumamon onto his back.

"Hang on Fuzzymon!" Kumamon didn't question it and wrapped his arms around Rexmon's neck as Rexmon's eyes narrowed into slits. M-Kaizokumon made a leap into the air. He pulled out Kaizokumon's gun and pointed towards the two digimon.

"It's time I stopped toying with you two and got a little more serious." **"SHATEKI!" **A target symbol shot from the gun and latched onto Rexmon's tail before he could move out of the way.

"Well that can't be good." Rexmon said with a slight growl.

"Oh Crap. Run!" Kumamon tightened his grip slightly as Rexmon suddenly sprinted down the deck.

M-Kaizokumon rearmed the pistol and fired. **"RANPATSU!"** Four shots rang out as the bullets shot after Kumamon and Rexmon.

Kumamon craned his neck around and curse under his breath as the bullets followed them. "Those things are following us. I hate that stupid gun."

Rexmon said nothing. He suddenly used his clawed feet to skid to a halt and turned to face the bullets before sprinting towards them. Kumamon would've yelled to not do what Rexmon was doing, but his instincts told him to just hang on tight. Rexmon crouched down and leaped under the first bullet that barely whizzed past Kumamon's ear. He landed on the ground on all fours then bounded to the left to avoid the second bullet, then jumped up and did a barrel roll over the third. The fourth bullet whizzed towards his face as Rexmon landed, but without hesitation he jumped over it and opened his mouth. **"PYRO SHOT!"** The fire blast hit the last bullet, causing it to explode and send the two digimon flying forward.

Rexmon was able to pull his body upright and stomp to a halt. Kumamon's ears rang as he heard two bullets coming at them at either side. "Rexmon, jump back!"

Rexmon jumped back and the two bullets collided, causing another explosion that this time rocked the ship. Without looking back, Rexmon backflipped over the one remaining bullet.

"Boo," came M-Kaizokumon's distorted voice as he suddenly appeared behind the two as they landed and he shoved them forward hard. The two tumbled across the deck and rolled to a stop. A close by whizzing noise was heard as the final bullet whizzed towards the two.

"Fuzzymon, I'm too tired to move."

"Come on! We have to move!" But it was useless as that surprisingly powerful shove from M-Kaizokumon took the last bit of strength out of Rexmon. The bullet came closer and closer until it was mere inches from Rexmon's face.

**"GOLD RUSH!" **A drill suddenly appeared over the bow of the ship and slammed into the bullet, knocking it away before it exploded. The drill turned around and flew back to where it came as a large hulking figure with buzzing wings hopped over the bow and landed on the deck.

The figure was large, yellow, and buglike. He had a beetle like shell on his back with the symbol of the crest of knowledge on it. Instead of front claws, he had two drill on each hand that were like makeshift claws, and one larger drill where his mouth should have been.

"Digmon." M-Kaizokumon said with a slight growl and anger in his voice.

Digmon crossed his pincers over his chest as he glared heavily at M-Kaizokumon. "Different body, but I can tell that stench from anywhere...MaloMyotismon."

"It's been ages, my 'old friend'. How have you been?" M-Kaizokumon asked with a tinge of venom in his voice.

Digmon responded by pouncing forward with his drills spinning. He swiped at M-Kaizokumon several times, but the possessed pirate managed to dodge and avoid all of the strikes before kicking the insect digimon in the face.

"You've gotten soft. I guess the 'Drill of Knowledge' isn't quite as intelligent without his human partner. What was his name? Cody, I believe. Those human partners are always what made you weak!"

"Shut it!" **"ROCK CRACKING!" **Digmon jabbed his five drills into the decking, sending wood flying into his opponent's face. With his vision temporarily obstructed, Digmon flew into M-Kaizokumon and slammed him hard into the main mast of the ship.

"How's that feel you jerk?" Digmon kept pressing M-Kaizokumon into the mast. He looked up into M-Kaizokumon's face just to see his bored expression.

"You couldn't beat me before when you were all fighting together at your highest levels. What makes you think you can do it alone as a measly champion?" He pushed Digmon away from him with almost no effort, then grabbed his arm before jabbing him hard in the stomach repeatedly.

The insect digimon groan in pain and tried to back away, but his arm was caught in a strong grip. "D-Damn!" He kept tugging, but M-Kaizokumon whipped around and threw Digmon as hard as he could. The digimon slammed hard onto the deck, bouncing over to where Kumamon and Rexmon were watching.

"You're not doing to good, old timer." said Kumamon.

"Well, I'm sure something good will happen," said Rexmon hopefully.

"Uh, maybe." said Digmon skeptically as M-Kaizokumon loomed over them.

...

My eyes opened up as I returned from the void. I sat up as all of the digimon in the dungeons looked at me with curiosity. I surveyed my surroundings and noticed Kumamon and Rexmon weren't there. "Where are my digimon?" I asked.

Deckmon pointed up at the staircase. "Dey went ta battle da captain. Ya passed out."

"What happened to ya?" asked Swabmon.

I thought back to what the phoenix had told me in the void. "His dark aura put a lot of strain on my mind, but I should be okay now." I felt the heat in my body boil as the power on loan from the phoenix poured through my veins. I felt as strong as I usually did when wearing my armor. I balled my hands into fist as flames surrounded them, surprising all of the digimon who weren't a part of Kaizokumon's pirate crew and didn't know about my powers. I waved my arm and my flaming sword appeared in my hand. "Well that's new." I faced the staircase and headed up.

"Where are ya goin?" asked one of Kaizokumon's crew.

"My friends need me, so I'm going to fight. There's very little chance of us winning, but we will. So everybody stay here where it's safe."

As I ascended the stairs the two digimon looked at each other. "Why can' we be like dat lot, Swabmon?"

The skeleton digimon shrugged and looked upward to the staircase. "Maybe we didn' have a reason ta be, until now. I know what we have to do."

...

**"BLAZING SLASH!"** A shockwave of fire split the deck and impacted with M-Kaizokumon's chest hard enough to knock him off of his feet. The other three digimon looked into the now flaming hole in the middle of the door to the lower levels of the ship as I stepped out of it, my sword shining brightly in my hand.

"Stanley?" asked Kumamon to nobody in particular. Rexmon and Digmon were speechless as I pulled my arm back and whipped it forward, sending another wave of fire flying in M-Kaizokumon's direction. The evil digimon was consumed in a large fire that spread to the front part of the ship.

"No time to explain everything," I said the others. "but I have a temporary boost in power. It won't last long so we have to get that digivice and somehow find a way to beat him. So let's..." I stopped as I looked at the three of them, injured and not really looking up for a fight. "Uh, looks like you guys took a beating. And you," I pointed to Digmon. "Who in the world are you?"

Digmon sweatdropped and chuckled lightly to himself. "My name is Digmon, and I'm one of the legendary digimon from the old days. I sensed this guy's aura," he pointed to the gigantic blaze from where M-Kaizokumon was burning within. "from my home on Stone and came as quickly as I could. But unfortunately I wasn't much good here. You're kinda on your own right now."

"Great." I said sarcastically. The fire was suddenly blown away and M-Kaizokumon stood tall as if nothing had happened. "Well this just keeps getting better."

The look on his face was a mix of anger and crazed joy. If possible it made him seem even more unsettling. "My power is limited by this vessel, but to actually come so close to harming me is surprising even to me. If I were to have you as a vessel I would become more powerful even than I was in my prime. You have no idea of your potential."

I glared at him and pointed the tip of my sword in his direction. "Sorry to tell you this but that's not gonna happen. I have people who I have to go home to. And unfinished business to take care of." I took off like a shot, surprising the three digimon at my side, as M-Kaizokumon took out Kaizokumon's cutlass.

He brought the curved blade up as I came down with my broadsword, easily halting it before lightly batting it aside. Gritting my teeth I swung to the side as crimson flames danced around the blade's edge. M-Kaizokumon backed out of the blade's way then kicked me hard in the chest, sending me flying backward. I jabbed my blade into the decking and managed to slow myself to a stop. My chest aching, I tried my best to catch my breath as he smirked evilly at me.

"Well even with my little power up, this isn't going well."

"Give it up, human child. Your body would be much more suited for me. You haven't even tapped into your true potential yet; I will have no trouble doing so. Now come here!" He ran forward in an impressive display of speed.

I nearly jumped out of my skin as he slammed into me and pinned my body to the edge of the deck. I struggled against him as he pushed until my upper body was over the edge. I strained with my lower body to keep from falling over. Against my better judgment I looked down at the water to see how long a drop it was. The ship's cannons caught my attention, and an idea quickly formed in my head.

"It's worth a shot." I said to myself as I strained against M-Kaizokumon's hold. I used all the strength in my legs to push away from the digimon, getting out of his hold, and plummeted towards the sea. Luckily I was able to grab on to a cannon before hitting the water. After I pulled myself into the opening of the ship I surveyed all of the cannons that riddled the ship and smirked. "This oughta be fun." I banished my sword in a burst of flame and lifted two cannons to my shoulders.

A little ways down the staircase, Swabmon and Deckmon watched me with curiosity. "Yo, what's dat kid doin with our cannons, Swabmon?"

"I don' know matie, but it looks interesting."

Up above, M-Kaizokumon growled to himself and headed towards the stairs to the ship's lower levels. Kumamon and the others suddenly stood in front of him.

"If you think you're gonna possess that kid then you've got another thing coming," said Digmon. His drills hummed to life and he lunged forward along with the other two digimon.

"I'll have his body whether you like it or not." The evil digimon waved his arm and an invisible pulse pushed the three digimon away from him. "Now, to capture my new body." He stepped into the hole I had made and proceeded to head down the steps.

"Yo!" I called up as I started coming up the staircase. "I'm taking you down!" I began to heat of the cannonballs inside of the cannons until they shot out as flaming fire balls that slammed into M-Kaizokumon, knocking him back up the staircase. I ran back up the staircase and continued to fire cannonballs at the demon until I ran out. M-Kaizokumon used that moment to charge at me with a burst of speed.

Thinking quickly, I dropped one of the cannons that was on my shoulder and used the other one as a bat as I swung it and knocked him away at the last second. I lit the cannon up with flaming energy and proceeded to bash him again and again. He raised his fist and shattered the cannon.

From the staircase the two digimon watched with wide eyes. "What in da world is dat human child?"

"I know. I had heard stories of da humans before, but none of em said dey were so strong. But we need to get dat digivice. Chances are we'll-"

"You don' ave ta say it," Deckmon interrupted. "I know what's gonna happen. But it's for a mon dat's gonna do great things someday," he said with a smile.

"Your methods amuse me, boy." said M-Kaizokumon as the pieces of the shattered cannon littered the ground.

"You should see Ash's methods. She much stronger than I am." I smirked and summoned my sword again. I could feel my strength slowly draining as the phoenix's power slowly slipped away. I didn't have long left before I would be powerless. Fortunately I wasn't alone.

Rexmon and Kumamon suddenly ran across and ran around M-Kaizokumon, ensnaring him in a rope they somehow acquired. The two digimon stood on opposite ends and pulled on the ends of the rope as hard as they could.

"A rope from the mast was loose so we decided to tie him up. Now strike, Stanley!"

"I don't have much left so I'll put all I have into this last strike!" I poured all the energy I had left into the tip of my sword and ran forward, preparing to jab it into M-Kaizokumon's chest.

"Enough!" M-Kaizokumon suddenly blew all of us away, along with the rope, with a sudden outburst of energy.

"Chompers!" shouted the two digimon from the staircase.

The three of us were all slammed backwards but Digmon flew up and caught us. "He is still very powerful. It doesn't look like we have any other options."

"And we still don't have that digivice." Kumamon growled.

M-Kaizokumon emitted a black aura as he staggered forward. Despite the power he possessed, Kaizokumon's body looked like it had seen better days. "Give me your body!" He charged forward once more as the aura propelled him even faster.

Two blurs suddenly shot out of the lower levels and slammed into him. In a flash, a small object was thrown from M-Kaizokumon and into my hands. It was the digivice.

"Wait, what the hell was that?" I asked in confusion. We all looked forward to see Swabmon and Deckmon in M-Kaizokumon's grasp.

"Boneymon! Fishymon!" came Rexmon's cry.

"You got dat device! Now use it!" shouted Swabmon.

Rexmon looked at the two pirate digimon is disbelief as they squirmed in M-Kaizokumon's grip. "Why? Why do this?"

Amidst the pain, the two digimon smiled as M-Kaizokumon. "Because we'd rather die."

"Than let a friend get hurt. We see now dat we were wrong. And we're lucky ta have met you, Chompers."

The display of friendship sickened M-Kaizokumon like nothing else and he tightened his grip on the two. "You both sicken me."

"LET THEM GO, YOU BASTARD!" I roared. I felt rage like never before as I held my shining digivice in my hand. It was reacting to me and my digimon's anger, it's power itching to be released.

"I have no problem letting them go." M-Kaizokumon said simply. A loud rumble was heard as the Nemesis Cannon rolled up.

"What the hell?" Kumamon said. "What are you playing at?"

"I'm simply 'letting them go." The mouth like cannons opened up and what looked like saliva dripped down to the ground. "Goodbye." And with that he threw the two digimon towards the Nemesis Cannon.

"MOVE!" I shouted. Kumamon, Rexmon, and I ran after the two to try and catch them before could reach the cannon, but two slimy tongues shot forth from the cannon and wrapped around their waists before pulling them into the cannon.

The saliva burned them and started to dissolve them into nothingness. But they weren't going to die without giving words of encouragement.

"Chompers...ugh...you're da only real friend we've ever had," said Swabmon as he struggled to speak.

"So do us a favor, and kick his arse!" Deckmon managed to shout before the two of them dissolved entirely, not even leaving a digichip.

We all stared, with wide eyes, as the particles that made up their bodies faded into the wind.

"NOOOOO!" Rexmon howled into the sky with tears streaming from his eyes.

I grit my teeth as I was overtaken with righteous fury and my digivice floated in front of me after what seemed like forever, the fire symbol on the back of it shining along with the symbols on my palm and the back of my hand. "You're gonna pay for that. I'll make sure of it!"

Rexmon was still howling as Kumamon crouched down on all fours in preparation. "Let's finish him," he said through tightly gritted teeth, his expression livid.

"With pleasure. DIGIVOLVE!" I connected the symbols and a golden radiance surrounded the two digimon.

"KUMAMON!" shouted the bear digimon as he suddenly shifted to a fighting stance and an outline of his digivolved form surrounded him.

"REXMON!" shouted Rexmon as he slashed the air and whipped his tail around as an outline of his digivolved form surrounded him.

"DIGIVOLVE!" Both digimon shouted together as they began their change.

Kumamon shifted into a larger grizzly bear with blue and white fur, red spiked gloves on his front paws, a red, spiked collar around his neck, and a white crescent moon mark his forehead, standing proudly on all fours. "GRIZZMON!" he roared into the sky.

Rexmon began to growl larger, much larger. The tiny ridges on his back began to grow into large, spiky ridges. The blades on his elbows grew long and sparked with electricity as three spikes came out of his head, one from the end of his snout and two out of his forehead. Spiky, white hair began to grow from the back of his head as he finally reached his full height and gave a mighty roar. "RIDGEMON!"

With their digivolution completely I decided it was my turn. Flames suddenly wrapped around my waist and hardened into a belt with a slot shaped like fire. I gripped my digivice and held it forward as it shifted into a fire emblem. "HENSHIN!" I slammed the transformed digivice into the slot on the belt and was surrounded by flames. The flames hardened into red and yellow armor with a fire motif on my upper chest, my lower arms up to my knuckles, and around my forehead, also transforming the goggles on my head. The flame sword once again appeared at my side as a pair of wings made out of fire erupted from my back and flapped once, shooting flames into the open air.

M-Kaizokumon took one look at me and his heart soared. "Yes! That's the power I need! I'll take your body if it's the last thing I do!"

"TRY IT!" With a flap of my wings I was off like a rocket.

**"RIDGE SLASH!"**

I had to suddenly shift to the right to avoid a flaming buzz saw that barreled at M-Kaizokumon like a missle. It bounced off of him and knocked him backward as the buzz saw was thrown into the air. Ridgemon's body extended from it balled up form and he roared with tears streaming from his eyes, which were randomly going from full to their narrow, slitted form.

"THEY WERE MY FRIENDS AND NOW THEY'RE GONE BECAUSE OF YOU!" He landed on the ground with a stomp and charged forward with electricity sparking from his elbow blades. **"LIGHTNING SLASH!"**

M-Kaizokumon armed his cutlass again and parried all of Ridgemon's strikes with ease. "If you miss them so much I'll be more than happy to sent you where they are."

**"GRIZZLY SLASH!"**

**"BLAZING DRILL!"** A roaring grizzly head with a flaming twister behind it ripped into M-Kaizokumon and knocked him off of his feet.

Ridgemon growled into his direction as me and Grizzmon ran up to him.

"What's the big idea! You won't be able to beat him by yourself and you know it. Especially since we're still exhausted." Grizzmon scolded.

Ridgemon uncharacteristically snorted smoke in his direction and growled. "I don't care. He's mine."

I jumped up and angrily punched him in the face. It wasn't enough to knock him down, but I made sure it hurt. "Stanleymon." he said as he held his jaw.

"You think you're the only one angry right now! I may not have known those two like you did, but trust me. I want to get payback just as much as you do. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna throw my life aways when I know that I don't have a chance of winning. You can't beat him. We can't even beat him together."

"That's not like you to say that, Stanley," said Grizzmon. "So we're gonna let those digimon's deaths be in vain? Cause despite how I treated them, they still saved our butts and I intend to win for them."

"No, I plan to win too. But we can't beat him by conventional means. He may be limited because Kaizokumon's body isn't as strong as his was and can only hold so much power. But his soul won't stop just because of that."

Ridgemon took a deep breath then looked to the side as M-Kaizokumon was getting up, unscathed, and looking at us with mild curiosity. "He's getting up again. So if we can't beat him, then what do we do?"

"I have some information that I was told would be able to help us figure out how to win, but I need time to think of how. You two hold him off and I'll try to make sense of it. But I can't do that if I'm fighting. Can you guys do that?"

The two nodded and plowed into M-Kaizokumon, giving me an opportunity to think.

_"Dammit! None of this is working! What was it that the phoenix told me in the void?" '_He's still tethered to his original body.' _"That's what he said but how does that help me? This guy could've killed us in a heartbeat earlier, but didn't for some reason." _I thought back to when we were in the dungeon. He couldn't come all the way down the steps, like something was halting him. Then it hit me. "Or pulling him back! He can only go so far away from the Nemesis Cannon! Grizzmon! Ridgemon! Keep holding him! I'm pushing this thing into the ocean!" I pointed my sword backwards at the Nemesis Cannon to show them what I was talking about as they continued to push against. M-Kaizokumon.

It took a second, but Grizzmon came to the same realization that I did. "Alright, but hurry it up! Ridgemon, blast him!"

**"MAGMA BLAST!" **Ridgemon unleashed even more hot, flaming magma into M-Kaizokumon's face as I flapped my wings and floated over to the Nemesis Cannon.

"We can't kill you, so we'll make you sit at the bottom of the ocean forever. It's fitting for someone as evil as you." I said to myself as I laid my palms against the cannon and pushed. It wouldn't budge at first so I pushed harder. It was difficult to move with my energy nearly depleted but after another push it started to inch forward. "Got to keep pushing."

A small bit of black energy sparked from the cannon suddenly as I pushed, but I didn't pay it any mind. "That's not gonna keep me from beating you." More spark started to shoot from the cannon. "Okay, this might be a problem." A rather large spark struck me and sent me flying away from the cannon. The pain was great and the resulting outburst of energy caused my body to glow momentarily before fading away. Digmon gingerly ran up to me and helped me to my feet.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, this thing is just putting up a bit of a fight. Help me with it."

"You got it." The two of us ran up to the cannon again and began to push against it, the strength of two moving it a little more than I was alone.

Grizzmon and Ridgemon were still pushing M-Kaizokumon backwards when they suddenly couldn't push him anymore. Instead he had started to glide forward, but not because he was fighting back.

"What in the world?" He asked himself, then he suddenly realized what was going on. "NO!" He tried to shove the two away but they held strong.

"Fuzzymon, we won't be able to hold him much longer!"

"I know! But keep pushing him back! We can still keep him far enough away from them to stop them."

Me and Digmon had finally pushed the cannon up to the edge but were spent. "I don't have anymore energy kid."

"That dark energy took more out of me than I thought." I looked back to where Grizzmon and Ridgemon were still pushing the evil digimon back. "But I have an idea. Grizzmon! Ridgemon! Switch!" I backed up and bent my legs, preparing for one last move.

The two digimon quickly looked back and immediately knew what I wanted to do. "Later," Grizzmon said as the two digimon suddenly pushed away from M-Kaizokumon and ran towards the Nemesis Cannon as they could. At that same moment I started to run towards M-Kaizokumon and took flight, flying as fast as I could despite being injured. I passed in between the two of them and slammed into M-Kaizokumon as the two digimon slammed into the Nemesis Cannon, their momentum finally tipping the cannon over the edge of the ship. With the two opposing impacts, MaloMyotismon's soul was forcefully ripped out of Kaizokumon's body and sailed past all of us into the water. Even without a body, his scream could be heard through the raging waves.

Resting Kaizokumon's unconscious body down on the deck, I gingerly walked over to where the other three digimon were looking down at where the Nemesis Cannon had fallen.

The three of them gasped for breath as they watched the Nemesis Cannon sink down to the bottom of the ocean, MaloMyotismon's soul sinking along with it.

"Good riddance, you twisted demon." Grizzmon spat into the water.

"We did it," I said weakly as I sat down beside Ridgemon.

"Yeah, but we lost a couple of good digimon to do it," Digmon said sadly.

To my left I could hear Ridgemon sobbing to into his large claws.

...

With MaloMyotismon's spirit sealed within the Nemesis Cannon at the bottom of the ocean it seemed apparent that they digital world would never hear from the demon digimon again. But only time would tell. We left Kaizokumon unconscious on his ship with what was left of his crew and eventually made it to the shores of the land of Stone by midday with the rest of the passengers from the S.S. Whamon. Whamon had come back after the fight, pulling the S.S. Whamon behind him. We had told all that had transpired. He still wasn't very fond of pirates, but even he felt some pain at such heroic digimon meeting their ends before they had truly gotten the chance to live right. Exhausted because of the most dangerous adventure we have had yet, we rested at Digmon's home of Stone Canyon.

I slept deeply as Rexmon sat up in his bed, staring out of the window at the blue sky. "Boneymon. Fishymon." Because of Swabmon and Deckmon's bravery we got back the digivice and had enough strength to get rid of the cannon, but it had cost them they're lives. Not even their digichips were left so there was no chance for them to be reborn. Rexmon, being such a sensitive digimon, wasn't taking it that well still. He jumped slightly as he felt a furry paw rest on his shoulder. "Oh, Fuzzymon, you scared me."

The bear digimon chuckled weakly as he sat down on the bed next to Rexmon. His right arm was slightly wrapped up from the injury he got from the fight before Digmon had joined up.

"How's your arm, Kumamon?" Rexmon asked as he continued to look through the window.

Kumamon was taken back by Rexmon calling him by his actual name and gently rubbed his injured arm. "It's better. I just have to learn not to take on digimon two levels higher than me." At this the two digimon shared a short laugh. "I figured you could use a laugh. Anyway I wanted to say this. I was wrong about those two digimon and I apologize for how I was acting towards you three. What they did for us was a brave thing and I respect them for giving us a fighting chance. And you did good out there today. But I hope you see now that this journey isn't going to be all fun and games. There are going to be casualties and digimon will get hurt. But I trust you're strong enough to handle it."

Rexmon looked away from the window for the first time in hours and looked to Kumamon with tears streaming down his face. "I don't think I am, Fuzzymon."

Kumamon hung his shoulders in understanding. He had nearly lost his mother not too long ago so he kind of knew what Rexmon was going through. "Well luckily for you, you also have us." He pointed to himself and then to my sleeping form. "We'll help bear each other's weight and give each other strength when needed. Feel better now, Chomperface?" He asked with a grin.

Rexmon blinked at the variation of Swabmon and Deckmon's nickname for him and smiled despite the tears. "I feel a lot better now, Fuzzymon."

"Good. Cause we've got a lot of work to do after we get rested up. Next up, the Warrior's Palace!" Kumamon pumped his fist up in excitement only to wince in pain and gently pull it back down. Rexmon again laughed as Kumamon smiled sheepishly.

…...

Not far from where we were was a large, ornate temple. Outside of its walls hundreds of digimon lined up to gain entry into its inner sanctum. Many were there to fight, most there to watch. But one in particular was there to wait.

He twirled his staff in his paws as he waited in line like the rest of the digimon. Green eyes surveyed the area and the other combatants as he practiced his bow staff kata.

A rather large digimon that was watching the feline digimon stomped up to him and kicked dirt at him. The feline digimon backflipped out of the way of the dirt and took a striking stance with his staff pointed at the digimon that had assaulted him.

"Nice job dodging dirt, but small digimon like you shouldn't be in the Mightymon Tournament. You should just stick to being a spectator and leave the fighting to the more powerful mons." The digimon flexed its muscles and showed off to some of the other digimon in line.

While his back was turned the feline digimon jumped over him, twirled upside down, and hit the digimon in the head four times in succession before landing gracefully on his feet. The digimon tumbled and fell flat on his face with four large lumps covering his head.

"Follow your own advice," said the feline digimon before looking down at his right paw, where a small, red symbol began to lightly pulsate. He looked up with his green eyes into the forest, feeling a small presence that was a little far off. "So you've finally arrived. Stanley."

**Hope you all enjoyed reading. Don't forget to review.**


	26. Tournament

** The semester's over and I'm at the point in the story where I can make more regularly scheduled updates. When we last left our hero and his digimon they had finally ended the ocean voyage and sank the Nemesis Cannon at the bottom of the digital ocean along with the cursed soul of MaloMyotismon, but not without sacrifice. Swabmon and Deckmon, newfound friends of Rexmon, sacrificed themselves to give us a chance. Now we head to the Warrior's Palace. Why? That remains to be seen. Enjoy the chapter and be sure to review. Kumamon. Rexmon. My disclaimer please.**

**Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own digimon, and thank God those ****ing finals are over with.**

**Fuzzymon, that wasn't very nice.**

The light of the sun blazed over the hill as three figures knelt in front of a makeshift grave. Even though there were no bodies to bury, Kumamon, Rexmon, and I had taken it upon ourselves to put up a little memorial for the two digimon that had sacrificed themselves the day before to ensure our victory. Surprisingly, it was Kumamon's suggestion to honor the two fallen heroes. He may not have liked them at first, but they had more than redeemed themselves in his eyes. It was all because of Rexmon's kindness towards the two. He hated to admit it, but it was almost as if Rexmon had a power that was beyond what normal digimon were capable of. Sure, there were digimon that could control even the elements themselves, but to change a digimon's heart was something else entirely. He started to respect the raptor digimon after that as well, and thus was the main reason he did this for his new friend. Friend. Even now the word seemed foreign to him, but it was starting to sink in finally.

Rexmon had not shed a tear since he had first woken up that morning. He felt like he had to keep strong for his two pirate friends and decided to keep journeying, making sure it never happened again. He stared at the cross made with two thick sticks with determination. "Fuzzymon. Stanleymon. Let's go."

The two of us nodded in agreement and set off to the north, to the Warrior's Palace. The continent of Stone was much different from Wood. While Wood had been covered from end to end with forests, Stone was made up of mountains, canyons, and deserts. Although, there were supposedly a few forests here and there. Right now we were in a mountain range with a forest at the bottom of it.

"So how far until we reach this place anyway?" Kumamon asked. The two digimon watched as I pulled out my digivice from my pocket and pulled up the digital world map. Judging from the holographic map, we were not too far away from it.

"Not too far away. Um, guys?" The two digimon frowned at my expression. They knew what was wrong with me. "Do you think that Armadillomon really forgives me for what happened earlier?"

"Well you did kind of snatch away his digiarmor without asking him Stanleymon."

I frowned at the memory. It had been earlier in the morning when I had woken up. We all had been eating and in the middle of the meal my digivice had began to glow. The next thing I knew Digmon had turned into a small, yellow armadillo digimon and a yellow digiegg was being absorbed into my digivice. A few silent, awkward second later and the three of us were being run out of Stone Canyon by an angry mob. We could hear Armadillomon's apologies over the mob as we ran away like our lives depended on it. It wasn't exactly my finest moment.

"Have you noticed that your digivice has been absorbing every digiarmor we've come across so far?" asked Kumamon, who stared at my digivice as we walked.

"Yeah, that is weird. But we can look into that later." I started to step over some rocks, but suddenly my legs lost a bit of their strength and I fell to my knees. "Well that was embarassing."

"Stanleymon, are you alright? You've been out of it since taking that blast from the Nemesis Cannon." Rexmon looked at me with concern in his eyes, having lost two friends because of that demonic abomination. I waved him off.

"I promise I'm okay. I'm still just a little weary. Let's go." The two digimon looked to each other and shrugged their shoulders before helping me up. In the back of mind though I could hear a faint laugh and just ignored it. I would later regret doing that.

After traveling over hills and through a small mountain range, we came upon a cliff that was overlooking a large valley. In the distance, a large structure could be seen and it seemed as though various digimon were migrating to the area.

"Do you think that's it?" Kumamon asked. "The Warrior's Palace?"

Rexmon used his tail to tap my digivice hanging off the side of my belt and the holographic map activated, showing the structure in the distance to indeed be the place we were looking for. I lowered my goggles down to my eyes and turned on the binocular function to see it better. There seemed to be a vast amount of digimon heading towards it on foot besides the ones that we could see with the naked eye.

"There is A LOT of digimon heading towards it. Maybe there's some kind of event going on today."

"Well we won't find out by just standing here. Time to take the plunge." Kumamon jumped from the cliff without warning with a shout of exhilaration. Rexmon and I just sweatdropped before following after him. Using the digivice earlier, I had recharged the wing digichip so that it could be used again. Taking it out as we plummeted, I slid the chip into the digivice and cried out.

"DIGICHIP BOOST!" A pair of wings each appeared on Kumamon and Rexmon's backs as they caught themselves in the air and grabbed me before I could get any further down. "Kumamon, what the hell were you thinking?"

"Psh. I trusted you. That's what I was thinking, and you didn't disappoint." I glared at him as Rexmon chuckled to himself. We flew all the way down to where the other digimon were gathering in front of a large, ornate temple. Digimon of various shapes and sizes watched us land as the digimons' wings vanished into particles of light. A rather large, ogre looking digimon took notice of us and stomped over to us. As it came closer we noticed it had bandages wrapped around his head and a black eye.

"You're kidding me. More little digimon want to fight in the tournament? Go home before I turn you all into data." He gave a threatening glare as he pulled out a large club. There were several mutters of "Oh not again" and "Didn't he learn his lesson the last time". He meant business but Rexmon wanted to settle things as peacefully as possible.

"Excuse me Mr. Ogremon, but you really don't want to do that."

"Oh yeah? And what the hell are you little twerps gonna do about it?"

"THIS!" I ran up and gave the Ogremon two vicious punches in the stomach before picking him up and threw him into a nearby tree. The force of the blow caused the tree to break into two and fall down on the now regretful Ogremon. A small, white flag pushed its way through all the debris and waved in the wind. Kumamon and Rexmon looked at me along with all the digimon who had been standing in line. I gave a low growl and everyone quickly went about their business save for my two companions.

"Geez man. That was a little extreme for somebody like him. What's wrong with you?"

"Yeah Stanleymon. You don't seem like yourself."

A slight pain suddenly went through my head and I shook it to try and steady myself out. "I just felt really angry all of a sudden. Probably just frustration from other digimon trying to kill me on a daily basis."

"Bull. I've seen you frustrated. And THAT was not frustrated. Maybe we should just wait a while before coming here. Give you some time to chill out." I glared at Kumamon and backed away slightly but went no further. Seeing that he was not backing down sighed and apologized.

"I promise you I'm okay. If anything gets any worse I'll let you know. Now let's see what's going on here."

The line moved up faster now as some digimon had seen my display of strength and had decided to leave the area. As we approached the front of the gate, we saw what all the digimon were gathered for. "Mightymon Tournament?" Rexmon asked to himself.

"You're kidding me! A tournament! This. Is. AWESOME!" Kumamon started to get pumped up and began bouncing all over the play in excitement. Being a digimon that thrived on martial arts gave him a natural thirst for fighting and since this was fighting for sport instead of fighting for our lives it was a welcome change of pace.

"I'm guessing you want to enter, huh Kumamon." He stopped running around long enough to give a very vigorous nod before going to back into what I liked to call his hyper mode. "What about you, Rexmon?" Rexmon nodded also.

"I've been thinking that I need to get stronger so that what happened yesterday won't happen again. This way I can work on my wild side and learn to control it. Also," He raised his arms and showed me the blades that protruded from his elbows. "I want to learn to use these like swords."

"Eh?" said me and Kumamon, who had finally gotten tired and calmed down.

"Last night, I talked to Digmon about how to not lose control and he told me that doing discipline training would help. He then told me how his human partner had trained with swords like you do to calm his mind. What about you Stanleymon?"

"I suppose I'll have to since you two are. Plus we were told to come here. Maybe we're supposed to enter for some reason. So, shall we sign up?" The two digimon grinned and nodded. The three of us entered the temple gates with the other digimon before looking around the interior. It looked a lot like a football or bastketball stadium, except much larger and much more grand. In the middle of the stadium was a fighting stage like seen in some martial arts tournaments.

We found the sign up area and signed up before being led to a large tent near the arena with the other combatants, which looked to be over a hundred other digimon. As we stood in the tent, we noticed that there were eight fighting rings, most likely for preliminaries. As we continued to look around a small, floating digimon appeared in the middle of the tent.

"Hello, warriors. I am Announcermon."

I leaned in towards Kumamon and Rexmon. "No offense, Kumamon, but some of you digimon have some lame names." Kumamon puffed out his cheeks in irritation and Rexmon shook his pointer claw at me in a shameful manner while saying "Stanleymon, be nice".

"Now there are one hundred and twenty-eight of you, but the actual tournament will be comprised of the strongest eight of you in this room. In order to do this, you've all been divided into blocks of sixteen. These will be one-on-one fights and the winner of each fight will advance to the next round until we have a winner for each block. The winner for each block will advance to the final rounds. The rules are no evolution, no digi-chips, and no deleting your opponent. Now, if you would all check this board to see which block you are in we can begin the preliminaries."

The three of us pushed through the large crowd to see which blocks we were in. "I'm in block seven," I said. Kumamon point to block two and Rexmon pointed to block six. "Awesome! We don't have to fight each other in the prelims. Now we have to make sure that we all make it to the final tournament." We slapped hands/claws/paws in agreement and walked off to our corresponding rings to start the preliminaries, but on the way to block seven I accidently bumped into a digimon that was not looking where it was going.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry for bumping into you." The digimon looked up at me with large green eyes and they suddenly widened. I would have asked him what was wrong but I just stared back at him. I could not explain what it was about this digimon, but he gave me a strange vibe. I shook my head and snapped out of my trance. "Heh, I'm sorry for staring."

He seemed to snap out of his trance and abruptly looked away from me. "My apologies, but I have some place to be. Good luck in your fight."

"Uh, thanks." I scratched my head as he turned around and walked off towards the block one prelim area. "Man, that was weird."

In block two, Kumamon had breezed through his first three fights of the preliminaries of the Mightymon Tournament and was now the finals of block two.

The Announcermon for block two announced, "The winner of this match will go on to the final tournament. Fighters Kumamon and Mamemon begin you match!"

Mamemon looked like a silver cannonball with arms and legs, big eyes, and a rather large grin on his face. On his feet and hands were red shoes and red boxing gloves. Kumamon and Mamemon began to circle the ring while paying close attention to the opposing digimon.

"Hey, little bear. Ready to lose?" said Mamemon mockingly.

"Not to you, you round retard. I bet you I can beat you without leaving this spot." Kumamon pointed to the ground.

Mamemon lurched forward and ran towards Kumamon. "We'll see about that!"

In a split second, Kumamon raised his right paw and balled it into a fist. Mamemon ran smack into it and was sent flying out of the ring.

Announcermon appeared again. "Kumamon advances to the final tournament!"

Kumamon jumped out of the ring and calmly walked to block six with his hands behind his head as he whistled to himself. He arrived just in time to hear the ten count on Rexmon's opponent.

"Rexmon advances to the final tournament!"

Rexmon hopped out of the ring and ran to Kumamon.

"Hey, Chomperface. That seemed like a short match. What happened?" asked Kumamon.

Rexmon laughed. "I wasn't paying attention and accidentally slapped the guy I was fighting with my tail and knocked him out."

Kumamon slapped his own forehead and chuckled to himself before wrapping a paw around Rexmon's shoulder and started walking. "That, my friend, is what we call 'dumb luck'. Now let's go check out Stanley's match."

I was in the finals of block seven and facing a Monochromon. Monochromon was the size of a rhino and looked very much like one, except for the armor plating that covered his body that was as hard as iron.

"Begin!" shouted an Announcermon.

Monochromon let out a roar and charged at me. The entire arena shook as the mammoth of a digimon plowed towards me like a wild animal.

"This should be fun," I said as I raised my hands in front of me. I grabbed Monochromon's horn and planted my feet into the ground to stop his charge as he pushed me towards the end of the stage. Planting my feet harder into the ground, I managed to stop him at the very last minute as my heels hung off the edge. With a turn and a mighty tug I threw the behemoth digimon over my shoulder and into the ground outside of the ring.

"Oddmon goes to the final tournament!" shouted the announcermon for that stage.

"Oddmon?" I turned to see Kumamaon and Rexmon staring at me. Rexmon was the one who asked. "But I thought Stanleymon was Stanleymon."

Kumamon growled to himself at Rexmon's use of his "nickname" for me. "I'll never get used to that."

"Well I want people to think I'm a digimon so I'm pretending to be one. How'd you guys do?"

"Great Stanleymon! Fuzzymon said I have something called 'dumb luck'. I think I like it."

I gave Kumamon and look and he waved me off. "Well it's true, but we both won our matches so let's all go to the area for the block winners."

In the finalist area along with us three were five other digimon that all looked pretty strong, save for one feminine, aquatic looking digimon. I wondered how she got as far as she did. "Is it really true that everyone here won all their matches with one blow?"

"Who knows? But if that really is true, then this should be fun. I love a good fight," said Kumamon as he took notice of all the other finalists. But his eyes seemed to linger on one in particular. A ginger cat digimon holding a large staff. He was Kumamon's height, but was lean in build. He wore and unbuttoned vest and twirled his staff between his gloved paws. Something about him seemed to call out to Kumamon. "Stanley. Rexmon. There's something weird about that digimon over there. Rexmon and I looked over to where Kumamon was pointing and I recognized that digimon as the one I had bumped into earlier.

"I bumped into that guy earlier. When we looked at one another, it felt like I knew him somehow. Is that what you feel right now?" Kumamon nodded, as did Rexmon. We were all thinking the same thing. A feline was the next of my digimon that we were supposed to find, but if this was that feline, then why wasn't he revealing himself like Kumamon and Rexmon had?


	27. Opponents

**I finally finished with my update for this story. It was originally supposed to be finished back in early August, but first band camp happened then school and I've busy from the get go. Finally had time to finish it and ended up making it twice as long as it was going to be originally, so I think it was a good thing I took such a long break from it. Last time we left me and the others, we had just made it past the prelims of the Mightymon Tournament, an annual digital world tournament where digimon from all over come to test their skills against one another. Also, from here on out, the sovereigns will be known as "Lords". Now you'll know who I'm talking about when you see that.**

**Kumamon: It's about freaking time! I'm so ready to fight! Fight! Fight!**

**Rexmon: What Digimon and challenges will we face? I'm scared Fuzzymon! *jumps on Kumamon***

**Kumamon: Get off of me Chomperface!**

**You two chill out! We have a disclaimer to do!**

**Both: Hai!**

**Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own Digimon, but what he does own are a particular set of skills. Writing skills. If you don't read this then that'll be the end of it. But if you do read, but do not review then I will look for you. I WILL find you. And I will flame you.**

As we all stood waiting for the Announcermon to show up, I got a good look at five of our thirteen opponents. There was the bipedal cat with the staff from earlier, and also the female humanoid digimon who was blue from head to toe, but along with them were three more very strong looking guys. The first was a small golem-like digimon that was made completely out of rocks. I had seen similar digimon in Kumamon's village, but this was was white as opposed to the gray ones in paper town.

"Icemon. Champion level. Data type, Icy digimon. Family: Nature Spirits, Nightmare Soldiers, and Deep Savers. Attacks: Iceball Bomb, Ice Block, and Ice Strike."

"He'll be a nice opponent for me to train with. Who's next?" I asked myself quietly. The next digimon looked much tougher than Icemon. Standing at around eight feet tall, he looked around with a robotic stare. It was also humanoid, but covered in circuitry and wiring except for his right leg which looked like the armor had been ripped off.

"Andromon. Ultimate Level. Vaccine type, Cyborg Digimon. Family: Metal Empire and Virus Busters. Attacks: Spiral Sword, Gatling Missiles, Grasp Hang, and Weak Slap."

"An ultimate digimon? He'll definitely be trouble for us."

"I want to fight him!" Kumamon explained with a devious grin. This was his kind of setting and he wasn't afraid to show it.

"Are you sure about that Fuzzymon?" Rexmon asked. "He may be too strong for you."

"Don't worry about me, Chomper face," said Kumamon using his new nickname for Rexmon. "I have my ways."

I shook my head. "Well Kumamon, if you really want the uber strong digimon to fight then you go right ahead. But you said yourself before that a rookie can't beat an ultimate."

"While that is true in most cases, I'm not like most digimon. If you're not careful I'll end up winning this whole thing without breaking a sweat," he said with a smirk.

"Whatever," Rexmon and I said at the same time, making Kumamon growl in irritation. There was one more digimon there, and he was the one I found most interesting. Humanoid and decked out in red and white armor, his fiery aura seemed to hit me right in the face. I couldn't help but smile in anticipation.

"Agunimon. Adult level Hybrid. Vaccine type, Demon man digimon. Family: Dragon's Roar and Nature Spirits. Attacks: Burning Salamander, Salamander Break, and Fire Darts."

"Well I found my opponent," I said with a grin. As we eyed our fellow opponents, said opponents were also sizing us up.

"Tch. So who let the rookies in?" asked the Icemon. "Man, the competition must really suck this year if they let guys like this make it through the prelims." He glared at everyone there except for the Agunimon and Andromon, but even they didn't take very kindly to the Icemon's arrogant attitude. The Andromon sighed in frustration as the Agunimon walked over to Icemon and patted him on the shoulder. The Icemon looked up at him and glared hard. "What do you want you giant?"

"Hey, I can tell you right now that there were lots of digimon in there that could have made it to where we are easily, and that there was lots of great competition. Just because they're rookies doesn't mean anything other than that they're really strong. Now you should try to make buddies with the competition, otherwise that Kumamon may show you the more painful side of a bear hug," he said with a smile.

"Whatever," The Icemon scoffed. "Either way, they still look like a bunch of worthless rookies, ESPECIALLY the Kumamon."

Kumamon's paws clenched into tight fists as he struggled to control his anger, but just as sure as natural disasters occur, Kumamon couldn't keep calm for long. "That's it! I'm kicking his ass!" He suddenly lunged forward and prepared to pound on the Icemon as hard as he could. Rexmon and I only had time to leap forward and grab his ankles to keep him from going any further.

The Icemon grinned manically and pushed the Agunimon aside as he ran up to meet Kumamon in the middle. The cat digimon breathed out a sigh of boredom and unhooked the long staff that was strapped to his back. He leaped forward and stuck his staff out in front of the Icemon tripping him. The Icemon fell hard to the ground and quickly got up, getting in the cat Digimon's face. "The hell is the big idea!?"

"You talk too much," the cat digimon said as he strapped his staff to his back. The Icemon got up and got into the cat's digimon's face. His rocky fists clenched and unclenched in anger as he struggled to keep his anger in check.

"You want some of me too you furry bastard? You can join these other weak rookies when I beat them into powder."

The Andromon again sighed in frustration; he had heard enough. "Icemon, cool off. Save your immature way of thinking for the ring," He said in a robotic voice. "Cubmon was only trying to keep you from getting disqualified so he can show you who is weak in front of everyone. You could use a lesson in humility." To emphasize his point, he raised his mechanical hand which was giving off a small hum as it began to vibrate rapidly. Icemon was rearing to fight, but obviously felt that Andromon wasn't a opponent he wanted to go up against. He backed down and walked over towards Ranamon, mumbling things under his breath about stupid rookie digimon.

"Geez. Dude's got some major superiority issues," said Agunimon. Kumamon was breathing rather hard in an attempt to calm himself. He waved Rexmon and I off, saying that it was okay to let go of him. "You guys alright?" Agunimon asked us.

"I'm fine, but I hope I get a piece of him when we start this thing. Smug jerk," Kumamon responded. Across the room, Icemon growled at Kumamon. Kumamon's mouth twitched as he began to get angry again. Before he could do anything though, I grabbed him by the shoulder. "Stanley?"

"Kumamon, I thought martial artists were supposed to always be calm and serene. Right now you're acting less like Mr. Miyagi, and more like an irate Bruce Lee." All of the digimon listening in tilted their heads in confusion except for Kumamon. That didn't surprise me. I wasn't expecting anyone to get the reference.

"Fine. Do you want me to do the whole "Wax on, wax off" thing while I'm at it?" He asked. Now that surprised me and made me tilt my head in confusion. How did he know about that? As if he read my mind, he answered, "Mom saw those movies when she went to the human world. Since I'm a digimon that is naturally adept to different martial arts fighting styles, she used them as bedtime stories for me." It made sense in a weird way. "At least there are some decent digimon here. Thanks for the help Agunimon, Andromon, and Cubmon was it?" he asked the cat digimon. The cat digimon, now known as Cubmon nodded and took his leave to stand over by Andromon.

"He doesn't talk much, does he Stanleymon?" Rexmon asked. I shook my head. The feeling that we all felt from him hadn't subsided and it had me worried.

"Guys, I think I'll go to talk to Cubmon," The two nodded a good luck and left me to it. Agunimon smirked as I walked passed him, lightly brushing his shoulder.

"I look forward to fighting you, Stanleymon."

I smirked right back as I passed. "Be careful with those flames of yours. We don't want to burn this whole place down, do we?" I stuffed my hands in my pockets and continued walking over to Cubmon.

"What was that about Fuzzymon?" Rexmon asked, confused.

"Looks like Stanley's definitely found a rival. He's got a good eye for competition." Kumamon smirked. He suddenly yelped as Rexmon jumped on him.  
"Fuzzymon I'm hungry!"

"Get off me you idiot!"

The Ranamon giggled at the display. "That dinosaur sure is cute." Icemon growled at the lack of attention he was getting.

"Hey, Cubmon," I said as I walked up to him. He looked up to see who was talking to him, but quickly looked down at the floor as soon as he saw it was me. "Curious," I thought to myself. "I wanted to say thanks for keeping Icemon from doing something stupid. If Kumamon had gotten a hold to him, I pretty sure the officials would be dragging them both out. Kumamon's got a bit of a temper."

"I noticed," he simply said. Every now and then he would glance up as if he were seeing if I were still there, but would quickly look back down when he saw that I was. Was I making him uncomfortable?

"Well, I'll see you in the tournament. You don't seem bad, so maybe we could be friends."

He looked up at me again, this time with no nervousness. "I can tell that you're strong, but incredibly naïve. If you really plan on making friends with your opponents then you won't make it too far in this tournament. Excuse me." He politely bowed and walked away from me. At least he had manners. With nothing else to do I walked back to my digimon.

"So, any luck?" Kumamon asked.

"None. In fact he reprimanded me for being friendly. Maybe that feeling I had isn't what we think it is." We all looked to where he was now; he was trying his best to avoid looking over in our direction. "What's his deal?"

Rexmon's snout suddenly shot to the air. "I smell a turtle."

"Eh?" Kumamon and I both asked and then looked at each other. "You don't think?" We both asked each other at the same time.

"EXCUSE MEEEEE!"

"It is!" be both said excitedly.

"What is that?" Rexmon asked.

Ahead of us shouts were heard in the crowd of digimon as a single digimon ran through the crowd as fast as he could.

KAMEKAMEKAMEKAMEKAMEKAME!" The chanting got louder and faster the longer it went. Then a shadowy figure jumped through the crowd and landed right in front of us. "What's up guys?" asked Kamemon.

"KAMEMON!" Kumamon and I screamed. We jumped the turtle digimon that we hadn't seen since the beginning of our journey. Originally he had been Kumamon's home town bully, but after things had been worked out in the town they had become friends shortly before we left. He also built the high tech goggles that adorned my head.

He pushed us off of him and gave each of us a friendly punch in the arm. "I was starting to think that I would never catch up to you guys. I left a few days after you did," he said. He had a bag over his shell for travel.

"What are you doing here though?" Kumamon asked. "If you wanted to come with us why didn't you come when we left?"

"Well originally I didn't, but when you guys left I started thinking. Kumamon." He grabbed his friend's shoulders and bowed. "I was awful to you and even though you could've kicked my butt at any time, you took all the abuse I gave you. I couldn't think of any other way to make up for it. You're on a journey to save the world, and I think someone should be around to record everything you do for everyone to hear. We want the whole world to feel as proud of you as we do. Besides, Stanley's goggles will need maintenance from time to time and nobody but me is touching those babies. Now it took me a long time and a heck of a lot of work to follow your trail so please tell me you've made some progress."

We looked at each other then looked at Rexmon. "Come over here chomper face. I got a friend I want you to meet," Kumamon said. Rexmon cheerfully bounded over and wagged his tail as he gave Kamemon a curious stare. "This lovable dummy is the Dinosaur of Virtue. Together the three of us have defeated one of the Lords."

"Just one, eh? You've been gone about a couple weeks and you've only done that much? You're slacking my friends."

"Hey!" the three of us said in protest.

"What? I just figured that you'd be more far along than this. Hey Stanley, what happened to your clothes?" He pulled out a sizable mirror from seemingly out of nowhere and propped it up in front of me. I looked at myself for the first time in a fortnight. A leg of my jeans was burned, my shirt had holes in it, and it looked like I was about to burst out of it at any moment. Had I...gotten bigger?

"Um a lot apparently. Speaking of which I need to show you something. Follow me. Kumamon, Rexmon, I'll be right back."

"I wonder where they're going," Kumamon said. "Hey Chomper-face, wanna learn some meditation to help control your feral side?"

"Meditation?" Rexmon asked with confusion.

...

"HENSHIN!" I shouted outside of the arena as flames surrounded me and I was now adorned in fiery armor. "So what do you think?" I asked Kamemon as he gawked at me in astonishment.

After taking a moment to get past his initial shock, he slowly walked forward and studied the armor with a critical eye. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. If I had to say, it's made of chromedigizoid."

"Chromedigizoid?" I asked curiously. Even after two weeks in this world, I hadn't heard that term.

"Yeah, It's the digital world's strongest precious medal. Nearly unbreakable. There are many varieties of the stuff all over the digital world, but I never seen this kind. Tell me what it does."

"Well the wings allow me to fly and the armor allows me to use my fire powers at will while also augmenting those powers by a few times. It also comes with a sword for more offense." I pulled the sword from my scabbard at my side for him to examine. He was silent as he looked it over closely, unconsciously letting a hmmm sound on occasion. "Um, is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, it's just really intriguing. Now you said the armor allows you to use your fire powers at will. I'm guessing that means you're having trouble with your flames without the armor."

"Yes," I responded. Up until now I had only been able to use flames after I had absorbed the flames of another, or if I were under extreme emotional stress like when Flamedramon had fallen to one of SkullGreymon's attacks. Now I could make a small flame while calm, but it usually fizzled out quickly, or I would just conjure a poof of smoke. After I had told Kamemon all of this, he looked me over with a critical eye.

"Hmmm. I think maybe I can help you with that some. I'll need a day though. Can you wait until then?"

My heart nearly jumped for joy at the thought of being able to better control my powers. If he could really do it, then I would be more than willing to wait a day for him to do whatever he was gonna do. I nodded vigorously. "Hell yeah I'll wait!"

"Alright, now that we're done here you should go back to where the others are. I'll start on the design specks now and should have everything ready for you tomorrow." We began to walk, but I stopped when I suddenly felt that familiar pain in my head. I went down on one knee and held my head as the pain began to slowly intensify. "Stanley? What's wrong?" I heard Kamemon ask beside me in concern. I lightly pushed pushed him away from me and forced myself to my feet.

"I'm fine," I lied. It was pretty pointless though considering the pained look on my face, but I tried my best to form a smile that Kamemon didn't return.  
"You're a horrible liar. If you won't tell me, then I'll just get Kumamon to tell me. That is, assuming you haven't lied to him either." I glared at the turtle digimon and started to walk away with him following in my stead. I couldn't be mad though, I was just as worried about myself as he was. I had had headaches before, but this was definitely different. And it had all started when I had come into contact with MaloMyotismon's weaponized corspe. No way were these headaches normal.

I felt a small hand grab my own, and looked down to Kamemon who had stopped and was trying to get me to stop. "Hey. Who's that coming our way?" He pointed forward with his free hand.

"Huh?" I look to where he pointed. Indeed there was a digimon headed in our direction instead of just moving randomly like most of the other digimon in the vicinity. It towered over most of the digimon it passed and weaved through them with ease despite its eyes being covered by a straw hat that barely covered the digimon's beak. Despite being bird-like, it had a humanoid body that was covered with a warrior's garb, a red sleeveless shirt over its upper body and long flannel pants covering it's legs. Its outfit was a dark shade of red and at his sides were two long katana. It's two large eagle wings folded over its back as it walked as to not accidentally hit anyone with them. Its stopped in front of us with his clawed hands on the handles of his blades. I reached back and grasped the hilt of my broadsword as a precaution. "Can I help you?" I asked.

"As a matter of fact, you can." He suddenly ripped the sword on his left side from his sheath and swung it in a flash. I barely had time to unsheathe my own blade before the two swords connected hard enough to send shockwaves out into each of our arms. All of the digimon nearby stopped what they were doing and stared worriedly at the exchange. I peered into this digimon's eyes and stared at him with as much determination as I could muster. I could tell he was stronger than me, but I wasn't going to make him think I was a coward either. With all of my strength pushed him away from me and quickly lifted up into the air.

"Interesting," he said curiously as he opened his own wings and took to the sky after me at a speed my eyes couldn't keep up with. He was over me with his sword poised to strike me down before I had even realized what happened. But as he brought his sword down a whooshing sound was heard as a dagger flew the air and whizzed right in front of him as he had begun to bring his sword down.

"Is there a problem here?" came a voice from above us. From above a humanoid digimon dropped down. The weird thing is that he wasn't winged like me and this mysterious digimon that had just attacked me. He just floated as his blonde hair billowed in the wind. He was donned in a green outfit, almost something like Link would wear but Link didn't twirl eight daggers between his fingers. He glared at the digimon that had attacked me and scoffed through the green bandana that covered his mouth. "Is there any reason why you would attack a fellow contestant outside of a match?"  
"A contestant?" I said out loud. I tightened my grip on my blade and prepared to guard incase this samurai/bird hybrid decided that he still wanted to fight.

He stared at me in thought for a moment before he sheathed his blade. "I suppose I've seen enough."

His wings spread and he took off through the sky. Before he was out of sight I removed my digivice from my belt and pointed it at the fleeing digimon, scanning him and getting his data. "Buraimon eh? I need to get to the bottom of this."

"What the hell was that about?" asked Kamemon as I descended to the ground. he had immediately retracted to his shell when the blades clashed. I looked at the holographic data coming from the digivice and frowned.

"He was testing my strength. For what, I don't know. But I don't have a good feeling about it." I looked to my left as I heard a 'thump' on the ground beside me. The green clad digimon waved to me smiled through his bandana.

"Are you alright there friend? I smelled trouble so I decided to help a fellow fighter."

"You're a fighter too? You guys haven't shown up with the rest of us, yet as soon as I'm alone I start running into all of you. Just my luck. Well anyway the help was much appreciated." I stuck out my hand and he grasped it in his own."

"Haha. It's no problem. I'm normally very mischievous myself but I wouldn't hurt anybody unless they were up to no good. Name's Petermon."

I blanched at his name. "Like 'Peter Pan'? Well that explains how you're able to fly and all that green."

"Peter who?" Petermon and Kamemon both said in confusion.

"Um, nevermind," I said with a laugh. "Well if you're one of the fighters then what's taking you so long to get to the coliseum?"

Petermon 'hmmm'ed to himself until an imaginary light bulb lit up above his head. "I was actually looking for a couple of friends of mine who had also made it through the preliminary rounds. I still haven't found them yet."

"Well if you had waited any longer to help this guy then we would've intervened ourselves," said a green crocodile digimon that had wedged its way through the crowd to us. He looked like a regular crocodile save for the cutlass that was strapped to his back and the pirate hat that looked out of place on his head even for a digimon. Also it was really faint, but if one paid close attention then they would see that its right eye was sealed shut and covered by a vertical scar.

"Crocmon!" Petermon shouted as he flew to his friend and plowed into him. "I was looking for you to tell you and Capmon congrats on making it through the prelims! Where's is ole one hand anyway?"

"Right behind you, you scoundrel!" Petermon ducked at the shout as a hook attached to a rope flew right past him. The rope retracted to the hand of a pirate-like digimon. "Be still ya bastard!" With the whole Kaizokumon fiasco still fresh in my mind my hand immediately reached for my sword but Kamemon nudged me with his shoulder.

"I don't think we have anything to worry about. I've heard of these guys and they're all buddies. They're called the Neverland Band. Petermon the Trickster, Capmon the Hooked, and Crocmon the Fearsome. They travel the digital world taking down oppressive digimon. They're friends."

I watched as Petermon put Capmon in a chokehold while laughing his head off and frowned. "You sure about that, Kamemon?" Even Kamemon looked skeptical.

"Um, if you're all part of the tournament, then shouldn't we hurry up and get back before the first match?" I asked.

The three friend looked at me, then turned to each other. The next second I was knocked over by Crocmon and Capmon who seemed to be trying to race each other to the coliseum. "OUT OF MY WAY YOU ASSHOLE PIRATE!"

"STOW THAT YA HAND STEALING CROCODILE! I'LL TAKE YER OTHER EYE IF YA DON'T GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

As their dust trails disappeared into the distance I stared wide eyed into the direction that they had gone in. "What the hell was that?"

Petermon chuckled as his friends disappeared into the distance. "Well those two weren't always so friendly towards one another. We all used to enemies. Those two especially have a long history. Crocmon took Capmon's hand at the same time Capmon took Crocmon's eye. It's actually a pretty funny story."

"Nevermind that! We have to get back there before we get disqualified for being late!" I jumped up, disengaging my armor, and dragged Kamemon along towards the coliseum as Petermon flew afterwards mumbling about nobody wanting to hear his stories.

The samurai bird digimon landed on the ground nearby and folded his wings behind his back. He took notice of the four darkened digimon that had instantly appeared behind him and chuckled in amusement. "I suppose you couldn't stand waiting any longer."

"No. We're ready to get this show on the road. So what did you find out about the brat, Buraimon?" asked a large, towering digimon. Beside him, a much smaller digimon grunted in agreement.

"He's interesting, and has the potential to be a threat. But as he is now, he shouldn't be much of a problem." Buraimon bowed his head as another digimon walked forward from in front of him. "Are we ready to proceed, Lord Shebamon?" he asked.

The digimon lord, Shebamon cracked the knuckles of all six of his hands and cracked his neck in anticipation. "Oh yeah. I say it's time for you guys to join the rest of your fellow competition."

Kumamon watched with a dropped jaw at the sight he was now witnessing before him. He had decided to teach Rexmon about meditation, but he wasn't expecting this kind of result. The other contestants seemed to be having similar reactions. Rexmon had sat down and done exactly what Kumamon had told him to do. He focused and looked within himself but instead of calming him down, he seemed to find a hidden well of energy and was bouncing off the walls like some sugar crazy eight-year-old.

"What have I done?" Kumamon asked himself. "I think I may have just doomed the whole digital world." He put his face in his paws and shook his head at the terror he had just brought into the world.

It was Andromon who snapped out of his surprise when his sensors alerted him to the presence of two incoming digimon. At this moment Rexmon had landed on the ground again and was now spinning rapidly on the tip of his tail. "WHEEEEEE!"

It only took the blink of an eye, but suddenly a large dust cloud collided with Rexmon and sent them all tumbling into the ground. Rexmon tumbled to a stop and glared at the two digimon with slitted eyes. The crocodile and pirate digimon were not intimidated and roared at poor Rexmon, scaring him and sending him running into a confused Kumamon.

"Help me fuzzymon! Those scary digimon were mean to me!"

"Get off me you big baby." He unceremoniously dropped the bigger digimon to the ground and poised to fight the unknown digimon until he saw Kamemon and I run up with a floating Petermon at our heels.

We stopped at the wrestling duo and raised our eyebrows, or just shook our head in Kamemon's case. I looked around noticed that no one new had shown up besides us. The other contestants still hadn't showed up and everyone was becoming impatient. "Those guys still aren't here yet?" I got a frustrated grunt as an answer.

"No. Where you been?" Kumamon asked.

"I was showing Kamemon my armor, but I got attacked on the way back. A digimon called Buraimon. We got into a fight in the middle of a crowd of spectators. Things would've gotten nasty if Petermon here hadn't stopped us." Petermon waved to everyone in the room and smiled, but then leaned down to pull his two friends apart before they killed each other.

"If ya keep messin with me I'll rip out your guts you bastard alligator!" Capmon shouted at his friend/rival.

Crocmon didn't take well to the "alligator" joke and I had to help Petermon pull the two apart and not get my arm chomped off at the same time. "Are you sure these two are friends Petermon!?"

Petermon didn't answer, being used to these antics.

Kamemon noticed all of the confused faces and decided to clear the air. "These guys are friends of Petermon. All three of them are fighting in the tournament with you."

"Well I guess we have to wait for the other five then. Hope they get here soon," said Agunimon.

"Yo. Sorry we're late." All of the contestants instantly snapped to attention as a strange feeling befell the room. Eleven heads snapped towards the entrance where five digimon stood, among them was Buraimon. With him was one fairly large digimon with a much smaller female digimon that looked a lot like him standing abnormally close to him. Slithering down around them was what looked like a salamander that had been set on fire. And lastly, and most surprisingly, was what looked like another rookie digimon. He wore what looked liked armor that kendo practitioners wore, but it was overly long and almost reached his feet. The sleeves were abnormally long even for his outfit but it apparently didn't stop him from holding onto his kendo sword. His face was a mystery save for two glowing yellow eyes that seemed to shine from deep inside his spiked helmet.

"We're the other five contestants," said the large hulking digimon. These digimon had a much more menacing demenor about them. They didn't look like being looking for a competition for the most part. The looked more like mons looking for blood.

"I don't like how these guys look," Kumamon said to no one in particular.

"Have to agree with you there rookie," said Icemon in response.

"Ah, you've finally arrived," said the Announcermon who was actually smoking while he was waiting. "Now we can finally begin." A poof of smoke appeared above him and box with a hole in the top fell into his tiny arms. "In this box lies sixteen glass orbs. Each of the orbs has a number that corresponds to a specific match. Each match is in groups of two so I'm sure you can do the math. You will be called up in alphabetical order to draw an orb." I looked at each of my friends, including Petermon and nodded. No matter what I drew, I was in for some challenging matches.

"First, Agunimon. If you would come forward please."

Agunimon cracked his knuckles and walked up with a smirk. He slid his armored hand into the box and pulled out the orb with the number 7 on it. Match number 4.

"Next Andromon."

The android digimon stalked up drew the number 6 orb. Match number 3.

"Buraimon."

The bird/samurai hybrid began to walk up, but stopped for a second and looked at me. "I look forward to finishing what we started.

"Likewise," I said with a glare and shot a puff of smoke from my nostrils. He continued forward and drew the number 4 orb. Match number 2.

"Capmon next." The pirate marched forward after giving Crocmon and Petermon a thumbs up with his one remaining hand and pulled the 15 orb. Match 8. Crocmon was called after him and pulled the 9 orb. Match 5. He grinned at the possibility of not having to wait until the finals to fight his rival.  
Next was Cubmon. As he walked forward, Kumamon, Rexmon, and I all watched him closely. If he really was the digimon we were looking for then he was going to great lengths to hide it. But why? He pulled the 14 orb. Match number 7.

Then came Ginkakumon,the large, silvery digimon with what looked like a hallow tube for a belly and what looked like a very large gourd on his back. The ground trembled with every step he took and a few of us had fallen by the time he pulled the number 1 orb, signifying that he was fighting in the first match.

Next up was Icemon, who was almost disqualified when he tried to pick a fight with Kumamon, who had tried to trip him, but glares from Andromon and Agunimon quieted him down. He drew the number 3 orb, putting him in a match against Buraimon.

After him was Kinkakumon, a golden, female digimon with curves that would make a human female jealous. On her forearms and lower legs she wore golden armor covered by a cloth that was just as golden. Any skin she showed was covered in scars and her face couldn't be seen because of a helmet she wore that was similar to Greymon's which spiky, blue hair stuck out of. Over her shoulders was a large, spiked club, with seven much larger spikes that also glowed golden. Her name was far too similar to Ginkakumon's for it to be a coincidence. She swayed her hips as she slowly made her way up to the Announcermon who was sweating up a storm at her approach. She slowly reached in and pulled out an orb, but blew on it and rubbed it against her chest before showing us that she had the number 11 orb. She was in the 6th match.

Kumamon nudged me and said something to me in my ear as I leaned down. "How would feel about one of your friends doing that?"

Was he talking about Ashton, Erica, or Shelby? Well Erica was like a sister to me, and I had serious doubts that Ashton or Shelby would have ever done anything like that. That didn't stop my mind from instinctively trying to picture the two girls performing a "Kinkakumon". I slapped myself to get the image out of my head. "I've been away from women for way too long if I'm thinking of those two like that."

Next was Kotemon who tripped half a dozen times over his own overly long sleeves before he reached the box and nearly made the box drop to the floor before he pulled out the number 13 ball. Well we knew who we would see Cubmon fight now. It would be an...interesting match.

"Kumamon."

"Finally!" He zoomed up to the front faster than I had ever seen him move, even with enhanced speed and nearly knocked the Announcermon over in an effort to get his orb: number 5. He was fighting the highest leveled digimon here. Andromon. "**** YEAH!" He shouted to the sky. My jaw dropped at his level of excitement as he practically skipped back to my side, giggling to himself.

"Oddmon."

"Oh thank God," I thought to myself. Kumamon was starting to creep me out. I pulled the number 8 and looked at Agunimon. I don't think it would feel right if I got anyone else right off the bat. We grinned at one another.

"I'm looking forward to our match," he responded.

Next up were Petermon and Ranamon. Petermon pulled the 10 orb and Capmon growled at the fact that Petermon would be fighting Crocmon before he could. Ranamon strutted up in the same fashion that Kinkakumon but to lesser effect. It was quite ironic when she drew the number 12 orb and glared at her fellow female with a smirk. Kinkakumon returned the glaring smirk and all of the males in the room gulped, save for Rexmon who was pretty much oblivious to everything.

"Rexmon."

That is until his name was called. There was an instant when I felt a brush of wind to my left, but Rexmon hadn't moved. "Hey boy, aren't you gonna draw an orb?" I asked.

"Already did Stanleymon." He pulled up his claw, showing that he had somehow gotten the number 16 orb without moving from his spot.

"WHEN THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!?" shouted every digimon in the room with eyes bugging our of their heads.

"Just now. Didn't you all see me run up there?"

No one said another word about it. Capmon slapped his hook against his forehead at his bad luck in having such a fast opponent.

And finally Salamandermon drew the last orb, number 2, putting him in the first match with Kinkakumon.

"Now that you've all got your matches it's time to announce it to the audience. If you would all follow me please."

We all started to follow the Announcermon outside to the main fight platform as Kamemon went out to the spectator stands. The sun shone brightly as we all stood for everyone to see. There were more digimon in those stands than I had ever seen. The size of the audience was intimidating, but we were all gonna do our best.

"WELCOME EVERYMON TO THIS YEAR'S MIGHTMON TOURNAMENT! THIS YEAR WE HAD HUNDREDS OF DIGIMON ENTER, BUT WE'VE NARROWED IT DOWN TO THE BEST SIXTEEN THAT THIS GENERATION HAD TO OFFER! AND NOW, MEET YOUR FIGHTERS!" The audience roared as they were finally getting to see who all were going to fight.

"THE FIRST MATCH: THE TOWERING GINKAKUMON VS. THE SLITHERING SALAMANDERMON! SECOND: THE FROST HEARTED ICEMON VS. THE HONORABLE BURAIMON!" I scoffed at the 'honorable' nickname. Honorable beings don't just randomly attack people without reason. "THIRD IS THE FUZZY KUMAMON VS. THE ULTIMATE ANDROMON!" Everyone snickered at Kumamon's nickname while he silently threatened to kill everybody in the stands who had heard that. "FOURTH IS THE FIERY AGUNIMON VS. THE UNKNOWN ODDMON! MATCH FIVE THE SCALY CROCMON VS. THE HIGH FLYING PETERMON! SIXTH IS THE GOLDEN GIRL KINKAKUMON VS. THE MERMAID RANAMON! SEVENTH IS THE KENDO WEILDING KOTEMON VS. THE STAFF WIELDING CUBMON! AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST IS THE PIRATE CAPMON VS. THE OVER-ENTERGETIC REXMON! NOW IT TIME FOR OUR FIRST MATCH! WILL ALL FIGHTERS BUT GINKAKUMON AND SALAMANDERMON LEAVE THE PLATFORM!"

The rest of us left the arena to a safe distance as the two digimon moved to opposite sides of the ring. Ginkakumon just stood and flexed his arms as Salamandermon crouched low in preparation for attack. The Announcermon floated up high into the air and shouted to where everymon could hear him.

"NOW! LET THE FIRST MATCH BEGIN!"

**Next chapter we will see the quarter-final matches. And is there something afoot with Buraimon's group. More than likely haha. Be sure to review.**


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